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BY 



Rev. T. D. HTHERSPOON, D.D., 

FOKMF.ULY PASTOR OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CI1URCIT, 
MEMPHIS. 



RICHMOND: j 

1'UESBYTEKIAN COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. 

i9j 



Contents. 



Page. 

Andrew Hart Kerr, Jr., li 

Sarah Ward Kerr, 43 

Mary Clarissa Kerr, , 81 

An Appeal to the Baptized Children of the 

Church, 121 

A Word to Christian Parents, 175 

Appendix, , 223 



Andrew Hart Kerr, Jr. 







11 And that from: a Child thou hast kno^n thb 
Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise 
unto Salvation, through Faith which is in Christ 
Jesus."— 2 Tim. iii. 15. 




Andrew Hart Kerr, Jr. 




^^NDREW HART, son of 
wfSrS ReY ' Andrew Hart Kerr ' D - D '' 

d> ^tOAl^^K-^k^^ o.nrl TVTva TVTovxr Tnrli<vno C*. 



and Mrs. Mary Indiana C. 

Kerr, was born in Davidson 
|f County, Tenn., within a short dis- 
tance of The Hermitage, the well- 
s' known residence of President Jackson, 
on the 10th of November, 1853. In the line of 
his paternal ancestry, he was the grandson of 
Rev. John Rice Kerr, who spent the earlier 
part of Ins life a Ruling Elder in great useful- 
ness in Albemarle County, Va., and having af- 
terwards removed to Kentucky, and having 
been ordained to the gospel ministry, laboured 
there until the close of his life greatly honoured 
and beloved. In the same line he an as the great 
grandson of Colonel Bennett Henderson, whose 



11 



12 ANDREW HART. 

name is intimately associated with the history 
of Albemarle County, Va. On his mother's 
side he was the grandson of Major William C. 
Ward, of Nottoway County, Va., and great 
grandson of William Jones, of Amelia County, 
Ya. Through these family branches he was 
connected with a long line of pious ancestry, 
running back through a succession of men who 
feared God and kept His commandments to the 
days of covenanting in Scotland. 

There are many circumstances connected 
with the birth of this truly remarkable boy, 
that are worthy of mention. There is only 
one, however, to which in this brief sketch we 
can allude. His birth was attended with great 
difficulty. For a considerable length of time 
after his birth respiration failed to ensue. His 
life hung trembling in the balance. , It was 
announced to the anxious parents, and in great 
.agony of spirit they wrestled in prayer with 
God, mutually covenanting with each other, 
that, if it should please God to spare his life, 
they would train their little one for His king- 
dom and glory ; and they have cause to believe 



ANDREW HART. IS 

that it was in immediate and gracious answer 
to their prayers that the life so full of promise* 
and hope was given to them. 

At the earliest moment at which it was con- 
venient to do so, he was publicly and solemnly 
dedicated to God in the ordinance of baptism. 
This service was conducted by the Eev. John 
T. Edgar, D. D., at that time the pastor of the 
First Presbyterian Church of Nashville, Term. 
Owing to the protracted illness of the mother, 
the ordinance was administered in the parlor 
of Dr. Kerr's house. The occasion was one of 
peculiar solemnity. There is, perhaps, no one 
in our church who has a profounder apprehen- 
sion of the great truth of God's covenant with 
believing parents and their children, or a more 
cordial acceptance of that covenant hi its rela- 
tions to their own household, than have the 
parents of Hart. Those who were acquainted 
with Dr. Edgar, well remember with what ten- 
derness and power he was accustomed to min- 
ister on such occasions, and they will therefore 
have no difficulty in conceiving the solemnity 
and impressivcncss of the scene. An eye-wit- 



14 ANDREW HART. 

ness, referring to it says : "I was present when 
the believing parents gave him to God, by the 
hand of the late beloved and excellent Dr. Ed- 
gar, of Nashville, Term., and then I felt that 
the Master was there present ratifying and ap- 
proving the dedication, and often since have I 
said that if I had no other and higher testi- 
mony in proof of the 'doctrines of the cove- 
nant ' in regard to infant baptism, what I saw 
and felt upon that occasion would be enough." 
Previous to the birth of Hart, Dr. and Sirs. 
Kerr had been called to surrender three infant 
.sons to the opening grave. This was the only 
son remaining to them, and it was therefore 
natural that they should watch with tender, anx- 
ious solicitude over his daily life; that they should 
lay every resource of their being under contri- 
bution to provide for his health, his comfort, 
and his happiness; that to a considerable ex- 
tent they should live in their child, and live for 
him, and count no sacrifice too great which 
would tend to render him cheerful and happy 
here, and fit him for the bliss of the kingdom 
of heaven. And his was indeed a sunny na- 



ANDREW HART. 15 

ture. No one could look into the manly, 
thoughtful face, as its image rises before 
us to-day, and not see there traces of the, sun- 
shine that was in the heart. His personal ap- 
pearance was, as our readers will see from the 
accompanying likeness, exceedingly prepossess- 
ing. This likeness was taken when he was only 
ten years of age, but it indicates very clearly 
the leading characteristics of his personal ap- 
pearance. His form was muscular and well 
developed for one of his age ; sufficiently ath- 
letic and vigorous to indicate perfect health. 
His head, which was unusually large and finely 
formed, was covered with a massive growth of 
brown, wavy hair, which under certain changes 
of the weather arranged itself into masses of 
distinctly formed curls. His face was broad, 
open and expressive, usually lighted up with a 
pleasant smile, and mantled by a brow whose 
massiveness the wavy hah* seemed to be striv- 
ing in vain to conceal. A pair of large, lus- 
trous eyes, bluish gray in their colour, and un- 
der certain shadings of the light tinged with 
hazel, gave to the whole face an expression of 



16 ANDREW HART. 

quiet, pleasant thoughtfulness, and genial good 
wfll. "When engaged in conversation, his eyes 
kindled with a glow of intelligent animation, 
and when excited upon any subject they seemed 
to flash with intensity of thought. His young 
companions had only to look for a moment into 
the face, glowing with quiet thoughtful inte- 
rest in everything about him, to be assured 
that he was one in whose friendship they could 
implicitly confide, and whose nature would 
never permit him to be selfish, ungenerous or 
rude. Hence he was a great favorite with his 
young companions. They loved to visit him, 
to spend hours in his company, and to listen to 
his conversations upon all the various topics 
that awakened their inquiry. He never seemed 
to have much relish for the ordinary sports of 
children, or any preference for their companion- 
ship. "When thrown into their company, as he 
frequently was, and especially when they visited 
him at his father's house, he entered with all 
the earnestness of his nature into the pastimes 
in which they engaged. His books, marbles, 
toys were always at their disposal, but in their 



ANDREW HART. 17 

games he generally preferred to sit as the um- 
pire, to whom all matters of difference were 
referred ; and while he seemed to enjoy himself, 
and be as happy as the happiest, contributing 
in his own unselfish way to the enjoyment of 
all the rest — the central figure in the group, 
admired and beloved by every one, he always 
seemed glad when the time came for the little 
circle to break, that he might return again to 
the society and companionship of persons of 
maturer age. His habits and modes of thought 
were far in advance of those of his own age. 
Indeed, his was one of those peculiar natures 
rarely met with in this world of ours, whose 
mental development seems to date from early 
childhood, who "have no youthful period, but 
from childhood are men and women." His in- 
tellectual powers were truly wonderful. " Such 
gifts as his," says one who knew him well, "are 
nothing less than genius. With uncommon 
powers of concentration, he was able to master 
the most difficult portions of his text book in so 
short a time as to surprise the teacher that he knew 
anything of his lesson whatever." " His love of 



18 ANDREW HART. 

history and biography was very great, and his 
readiness in acquiring them may be seen in the 
fact that when only seven or eight years of age 
he was accustomed, on returning from the 
school-room, to repeat almost every important 
fact and incident that he had heard recited by 
the class in history." " He read with avidity 
every newspaper, whether secular or religious, 
that fell into his hand. During the progress 
of the war he kept hi m self fully posted as to 
the entire history of the struggle, and at its 
close could relate almost every important move- 
ment of the different armies, their successes, 
reverses, &c." So wonderful was this power 
of attaining knowledge, that at the time of his 
death, although only thirteen years of age, his 
mind was stored with intelligence upon almost 
every subject that came within his range, and 
especially upon the great subject of the doc- 
trines, principles and obligations of religion. 

His father was his chosen companion. He 
preferred his society to that of any other per- 
son. " Between father and son there existed 
relations of confidential intimacy rarely found 



ANDREW HART. 19 

between parent and child. They looked alike, 
thought alike, and upon all subjects appeared 
to have similar tastes and feelings ; and while 
they loved others toward whom such feelings 
would be natural, their souls seemed knit to- 
gether in relations which could not be shared 
with any other." Hart especially delighted to 
converse with his father upon religious subjects, 
and it is astonishing to hear from those who 
were guests in the house, how, when not more 
than six years of age, when his little feet could 
not reach the rounds of the chair upon which 
he was seated, he would sit up until ten, or 
sometimes even until twelve o'clock, listening 
apparently with the deepest interest to discus- 
sions of difficult and important questions in 
theology in which his father was engaged, 
sometimes venturing to ask in his childish way 
a question, which displayed a wonderful appre- 
ciation of that which he heard, and a reach of 
thought amazing in one so young. 

Many incidents have been placed in tho 
writer's hands illustrative of the unusual BOOpe 
and distinccness of the knowledge which this 



20 ANDREW HART. 

dear boy had acquired, at an age when most 
bojs think of little except their daily lessons, 
and their daily sports. One or two of these 
will be all that we can introduce, 
e He was very ardently attached to his native 
South, and during the struggle was frequently 
heard to say that he thought the South would 
finally triumph, because the Lord was on our 
side. At the close of the war, a friend re- 
minding him of this, said : " You thought God 
was on our side, but it seems He was against 
us." To that Hart instantly replied : "You 
decide the case too soon. The end is not yet; 
all these things seem to be against us, but the 
Lord may yet show us that He is for us, and 
not against us." 

When only ten years of age, his father took 
him on a visit to St. Louis. On board the 
steamer he met with a gentleman who became 
very deeply interested in him, and who, more 
for the purpose of testing his knowledge than 
with any other view, asked him if he was a 
Presbyterian. "I am," said Hart; "though 
not a member, my preference is for the Pres- 



ANDREW HART. 21 

byterian cnurch." "Why so?" asked his new 
made friend. "Because," said Hart, "I be- 
lieve its doctrines are taught in the Bible." 
"Well," said his friend, "I am a Baptist and 
believe in immersion." "And why," asked 
Hart, "do you believe in immersion?" "Be- 
cause the Bible says that Christ went down 
into the water and came up out of the water." 
"And what of that?" asked Hart. "Well," 
said his friend, " He was baptized for our ex- 
ample, and we ought to be baptized in the same 
way." "Then," said Hart, "Peter says we are 
baptized for the remission of sins, and if Christ 
was baptized as our example, he must have 
been baptized for the remission of His sins, but 
He had no sins to remit." "Why then," said 
his friend, "was Christ baptized?" 

Hart — "The Bible says to fulfil all righteous- 
ness." 

Friend — "What does that mean?" 
Hart — "It means that Christ came to be the 
Priest of His church, and as the first priests 
were set apart publicly to their office, so Christ 
was, by the baptism of John, set apart to His 
office 



22 ANDREW HART. 

Friend — "How were the old priests set apart f" 

Hart — " By anointing them with oil, poured 
from a horn, upon their heads." 

Friend — "How do you know thatf 

Hart — "I heard my father read it from the 
Bible." 

The friend then changed the subject, and 
professing to be an Arininian, asked Hart if he 
believed in the doctrine of Election. Hart re- 
plied that he did, and the friend then asked 
what he understood by Election. Fortunately 
Hart had but a short time before heard a ser- 
mon from his father, in which the whole sub- 
ject of Election had been presented in a j)lain 
and striking way. He immediately replied to 
his friend that he would answer hirn, if he 
would permit him to ask a few questions. The 
friend consented, and the following conversa- 
tion took place : 

Hart — "Are you a christian 1 ?" 

Friend — "I hope I am." 

Hart — "Did you convert your soul, or did 
God do it r 

Friend — "I trust it was the work of God." 



ANDREW HART. 23 

Hart — " Was it by accident or was it from de- 
sign that you were converted?" 

Friend — "It was from design of course." 

Hart — " When did God first design to do 
it?" 

His friend here hesitated, but Hart pressed 
the question whether this design of God to 
convert his soul was from eternity, or was 
formed at the time when the conversion actually 
took place. His friend refused to answer, and 
Hart then said: "If it was in time that God 
determined to convert you, He then knew 
something that He never knew before ; and to 
admit that, is to admit that He is not God. 
His friend did not attempt to meet his argu- 
ment, but simply expressed his opposition to 
the doctrine of eternal Election, when Hart 
asked him again : 

"When God converted your soul, did he not 
do a good thing f M 

" Oh yes," answered his friend. 

"Well then," said Hart, "are the good tilings 
of God made bad by having age upon them?" 

These conversations are introduced, not be- 



24 ANDREW HART. 

cause the arguments which they contain have 
any peculiar force, nor because they would be at 
all remarkable in a person of mature age ; but 
because they show, especially to our young 
readers, how diligently this now sainted boy 
was accustomed to study the doctrines and 
principles of the church of his fathers, and 
how ready he was on every proper occasion 
modestly but firmly to maintain them. 

His moral nature was singularly exempt from 
the vices of childhood and early youth. He 
was never known to tell a deliberate falsehood^ 
or to utter an oath of any kind whatever. So 
far from his parents' finding it necessary to in- 
flict any corporeal punishment upon him, they 
do not remember ever to have administered 
even a severe rebuke. 

If he had the slightest reason to suppose 
that either father or mother was dissatisfied 
with anything that he had done, he was un- 
happy until the impression was removed, or the 
fault amended. His great desire seemed to be 
to render his parents happy. Time and again 
did he astonish them by the tender, loving 



ANDREW HART. 25 

manner in which he anticipated their wishes, 
and complied with what he knew to be their 
preferences, in circumstances in which they 
would have expected him, under the impulses 
of youth, to act in a very different manner. He 
was remarkable too for his devotion to his sis- 
ters. He never seemed to weary in his efforts 
to please them, and make them happy. He 
was always ready to sacrifice his own plans and 
give up his own pleasures to serve and accom- 
modate them. His knife, his pens, his paper, 
his books, his toys and sweatmeats were always 
at their command. He was ready to do any- 
thing to promote their happiness. It has been 
often said that a boy is best known by his con- 
duct toward his sisters. If he has a noble, 
generous, loving nature, it will manifest itself 
in the unselfish devotion and manly courtesy 
with which he will act toward his sisters within 
the privacy of the family circle. Tried by this 
standard, Hart would have merited the rank of 
true nobility. 

As a student at school, Hart was the same 
consistent, manly, conscientious boy lli.it \\< 



26 ANDREW HART 

have seen him to be at home. Respectful, 
courteous and affectionate to his teacher, he 
was never known to enter the school-room 
without a thorough preparation of his lessons. 
His parents did not find it necessary on even a 
single occasion during all his course of study- 
to admonish him to prepare his lessons. Such 
was his devotion to his books, and such the fa- 
cility with which he mastered them, that his 
faultless recitations were the admiration of 
every teacher to whom he was sent. He would 
not permit himself to attempt a recitation un- 
less he felt sure that he was fully prepared for 
it ; and it was always his rule to recite in lan- 
guage of his own, that his teacher might see 
that he was not simply quoting from memory 
the words of an author whose meaning he did 
Jiot understand, but that he had imbibed the 
truths which the lesson contained, and made 
them his own. 

The religious life of Hart dates back from a 
very early period of childhood. As soon as 
he was capable of thin kin g upon any subject 
at all, his thoughts were studiously and con- 



ANDREW HART. 27 

stantly directed by his parents co the great 
subject of religion. His father, especially, de- 
voted much of his time to the cultivation of 
the religious life of his dear boy. Feeling, as 
every Christian parent should, that religion is 
the one great concern and aim of life, he en- 
deavoured to make eveiything subservient to 
its interests. Hence he sought every opportu- 
nity to impress its lessons upon him. In his 
accustomed walks through the forest for devo- 
tional purposes, or for study or recreation, 
Hart was his constant companion, and these 
were his father's favourite seasons of spiritual 
instruction. As they walked together, hand in 
hand through the grove — the trees, the birds, 
the sheep, the cattle, the winds, the clouds, 
&c, &c, were all employed by the anxious 
father to impress upon the heart of his boy 
some great and essential truth j and when on 
these strolls through the woods, a favourable 
opportunity was afforded, they would often bow 
down together in prayer, while the father, with 
swelling heart and flowing tears, would pour 
out his prayers for the conversion and salva- 



28 ANDREW B.AU1 

tion of his child. And even when so busied 
with studies during these walks as to be una- 
ble to devote his time to conversation upon the 
various topics that would interest his child, — 
he was accustomed to give audible utterance 
to the thoughts passing through his mind, and 
thus interest and impress him. 

These interviews with his father, in which 
religion was presented as the great duty and 
happiness of life, were ? from the very first, the 
delight of young Hart. Nothing would please 
him so much as to have his father take him 
with him, and converse with him upon these 
subjects. At one time the glowing counte- 
nance, and at another the flowing tears would 
reveal the deep emotions of his heart, and in- 
dicate the strong and vivid impressions made 
upon his mind. 

From the time at which Hart first learned to 
construct sentences, he was taught morning 
and evening to engage in prayer. And this ex- 
ercise soon became delightful to him. He 
learned to pray in his own words, and to ask 
in his simple childlike manner for the particu- 



ANDREW HART. 29 

lar blessings which he felt that he needed 
Under no circumstances would he forego the 
evident pleasure which he found in these ap- 
proaches to the throne of grace. It mattered 
not how late might be the hour of retiring, or 
how weary he might be in body or mind, he 
always knelt with reverence beside his bed and 
engaged devoutly in prayer ; and many circum- 
stances connected with his last sickness evince 
the fact that these had been seasons of real 
communion with God. 

The delight with which even in early child- 
hood he listened to the reading of the* Scrip- 
tures, the pleasure which he seemed to find in 
singing those hymns which are most devotional 
and spiritual, the interest which he seemed to 
feel in the ordinances of public worship, and 
the spirit of true childlike trust in God and 
obedience to His will, which seemed to pervade 
all Ins daily life, led Ins parents to indulge the 
hope that at a very early period of Ins ■ life his 
heart had been renewed by the Holy Spirit, 
and that he was daily under the guidance of 
that blessed and holy One. They therefore 



30 ANDREW HART. 

looked forward with, great earnestness and 
prayerfulness to the time when he should make 
a public profession of religion, and be admit- 
ted to the communion table. The conversion 
of his sister Mary, of which we shall have oc- 
casion to speak hereafter, and which took place 
when he was not quite seven years of age, 
made a very deep impression upon him, and 
was no doubt one of the links in the chain of 
providences by which he was being prepared 
for the kingdom of heaven. Although too 
young to understand fully the nature of the 
scene which he was witnessing, he was a most 
intensely interested and deeply affected ob- 
server, and it was not until near the dawn of 
morning that he was able to compose himself 
sufficiently to fall asleep. The next morning* 
his father called him to him, and taking him 
out alone, explained to him, in the simplest 
and tenderest terms, how mercifully God had 
brought his sister to see that she was a poor 
lost sinner, and to plead for His mercy; how 
He had given her a new heart, enabling and 
inclining her to trust in the Lord Jesus for 



ANDREW HART. 31 

salvation ; that now she was a child of God, and 
that bye-and-bye she would go to live in heaven 
with her dear little brothers and sisters. He 
told Hart how much he hoped and how earn- 
estly he prayed that God would give him a new 
heart to love and trust the Saviour, so that the 
whole family might live together unbroken in 
heaven. This interview made a deep impres- 
sion upon him, and was another of the many 
links in the chain. 

Although, as we have said, his parents were 
deeply solicitous that he should publicly pro- 
fess Christ before men, they hesitated to en- 
courage a step of so much importance and so- 
lemnity, on account of his extreme youth. 
Finally, however, after much reflection and 
prayer, his father appointed a communion sea- 
son with special reference to such a step, de- 
signing to bring the whole matter before the 
mind of his son, and counsel and pray with 
him in reference to his duty and privilege. A 
train of unforeseen circumstances, not at all 
connected with Hart's religious history and 
state, but of such a character that they could 



,32 ANDREW HART. 

not be avoided, were thrown around him, and 
these made it best, in the judgment of the 
lather, to delay the matter until the next com- 
munion season. Before that period arrived it 
had pleased God to call him away, and he had 
gone, as we trust, to the communion of the 
blessed above. 

We are now brought to the closing scenes in 
the life whose early and striking development 
we have been seeking to trace. In the autumn 
of the year 1866, the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church South convened in Mem- 
phis, Term. As it was felt to be a meeting of 
great interest and importance to the church, a 
large number of persons gathered from all 
parts of the country to attend its sessions. 
Hart came as the companion of his father, who 
was the commissioner from the Presbytery of 
Memphis. Immediately upon the organization 
of the Assembly, Dr. Kerr was chosen as its 
Moderator, and presided with great acceptance 
over that noble body of men, whose delibera- 
tions were characterised by the greatest har- 
mony and cordiality. During all these delibe- 



ANDREW HART. 33 

rations, Hart, who was then thirteen years of age, 
was a constant and deeply interested spectator, 
looking with evident admiration and reverence 
upon the venerable men who rose, one after an- 
other, to address the Assembly, and listening 
with intense interest to the debates upon the 
great questions affecting the welfare of the 
church. Many who were members of that As- 
sembly vividly recall the manly little form sit- 
ting erect in the midst of the gray haired men 
around him ; the modest, boyish expression of 
the face ; the quick glance and intelligent flash 
of the eye ; the play of the different emo- 
tions as iney chased each other over the fea- 
tures, showing the intelligent appreciation and 
earnest interest taken in every question. Many 
recollect the expression of mingled pride and 
thankfulness with winch the father looked down 
from the Moderator's chair upon his deeply in- 
terested boy. Alas ! we little thought that so 
soon the manly form would be stilled, the beam- 
ing eye closed, and the hopes of parents and 
friends prostrated in the dust. 

The General Assembly closed its sessions on 



34 ANDREW HART. 

the afternoon of Tuesday, 27th of November. 
During the whole of the summer and fall, the 
cholera had, with greater or less violence, pre- 
vailed in Memphis, and for some time it had 
been ajDprehended that it might be unsafe for 
the Assembly to meet; but after the first of 
October it was supposed to have disappeared, 
and but little anxiety was felt upon the subject 
at the time when the Assembly convened. 

Toward the latter part of the session, how- 
ever, many symptoms of the presence of the 
fearful plague were discovered. Many mem- 
bers of the Assembly had reason to apprehend 
that its poisonous influences were already 
at work in their systems, and quite a num- 
ber of them were violently attacked either be- 
fore leaving the city, or on their way to their 
homes, with symptoms of the dreadful scourge. 
The parting of the members of the Assembly 
was therefore hurried, and yet tender and cor- 
dial. The session had been unusually long, 
the discussions had been animated and pro- 
tracted. The brethren had come to know and 
love each other, and they parted many of them 



ANDREW HART. 35 

in tears. Dr. Kerr had remained long at the 
church, receiving the congratulations of his 
friends and brethren upon the very able and 
successful manner in which he had discharged 
the delicate and difficult duties of his office. 
At length he returned to the hotel with his son, 
expecting on the morrow to return to his home 
and family hi the country. He had been at the 
hotel but a short time, when, between seven and 
eight o'clock in the evening^Hart was suddenly 
and violently seized with the cholera. The 
surprise and sorrow of his relatives and friends 
cannot be described. But an hour before they 
had conceived him to be in the enjoyment of 
perfect health; now they saw him grappling 
with a disease which no skill of the physician 
•could baffle, and no power of medicine relieve. 
As the father stood with head bowed hi sorrow 
by the bedside, as weeping relatives gathered 
one by one about the couch, as the men of Clod, 
fresh from the councils of the Assembly, came 
with muffled step and tearful eye to express 
their sympathy, there was a scene of sorrow such 
as is loo often witnessed in ibis world of tears. 



36 ANDREW HARF. 

But with him who was the central figure in 
the group, there was no manifestation either of 
surprise or fear. Long since, young as he was, 
he had learned to love and trust the blessed 
Saviour, and to feel that the everlasting arms 
were underneath him. The triumphs of his 
death-bed almost surpass the power of lan- 
guage to express. The following is the testi- 
mony of an eye-witness, winch for its simplicity 
and tenderness, we prefer to give substantially 
in the language in which it was prepared at the 
time for our weekly religious press : 

""When he was informed that he would pro- 
bably not get well, and his father exhorted him 
to place his trust in his Saviour, and to give 
his heart to God, he prayed long, earnestly, 
and with remarkable force and intelligence, for 
mercy and forgiveness through the merits of a 
crucified Redeemer, in whom alone he relied 
for salvation. When he concluded his prayer, 
in which he exhibited a thorough acquaintance 
with the whole plan of salvation through the 
Cross, he gave the most indubitable assurance 
of his acceptance and reconciliation in Christ, 



ANDREW II ART. 37 

and continued to rejoice and praise God, and 
to speak of the preciousness of the blessed Sa- 
viour, until his strength was too far spent to 
talk. The Rev. Drs. Adger and Joseph R. Wil- 
son, of the General Assembly, were present, 
and enquired faithfully into the ground of his 
hope. When he told them that he knew, 
young as he was, that he was a sinner, and 
that he must be saved, if saved at all, through 
the atoning merits of a crucified Redeemer, 
and that he had given his whole heart to God, 
and now felt that he would rather go and stay 
with Christ and with the angels, than stay in a 
w r orld of sin and sorrow, these good men could 
not refrain from exclaiming Glory! glory !1 
glory to God in the highest ! ! ! 

"As they heard such clear evidence of God's 
faithfulness to His promises in this child of the 
Covenant, they bid the crushed father rejoice, 
and withhold his tears in the midst of such 
splendid manifestations of the presence and 
power of the Holy Ghost. 

u Some hours before his death he requested 
that the hymn, ' Rock of Ages,' should be sung. 



38 ANDREW HAKT. 

and joined in the singing, at the same time 
shouting and clapping his hands in the hap- 
piest manner. Meanwhile he exhorted all pre- 
sent to meet him in heaven, sending similar 
messages to his mother and sisters, and to 
other absent ones, and entreating all not to 
weep for him, but rather rejoice in the goodness 
and glory of God, who was going to take him from 
a world of sin and trouble up to Himself, where 
he would very soon be singing with angels, and 
where he would take his seat in the General 
Assembly and church of the first-born which 
are written in heaven. 

"No doubt, when he made this last remark, 
his thoughts were running on the General As- 
sembly which he had a few hours before seen 
his father preside over and close. Later he re- 
quested those present to sing, ' Come humble 
sinner/ and again raising himself almost to a 
sitting posture, he repeated, 

1 1 love thy kingdom, Lord, 
The house of thine abode,' 

in clear, distinct tones, and said, ' Let us all sing.' 
At one time, when his distressed father was weep- 
ing over, and begging for grace to his 'poor boy/ 



ANDREW HART. 39 

lor the last struggle, he spoke up quickly and 
said, 'Pa, I am not poor, I am rich.' 

" He very often repeated the first line of that 
hymn which begins, ' Lord I am thine, entirely 
thine," and evidently appreciated to the fullest 
extent its meaning. 

" Calmly he bid each one present ' good-bye,' 
-exhorting them to meet him in heaven. He 
gave to his sister Mary, who was present, a 
kiss for his mother and sisters who were ab- 
sent, calling each by name, saying, 'Tell ma 
not to be distressed about me; that I died 
.happy in Jesus, and have gone to heaven, where 
she and my little sisters must meet me.' "When 
asked if he was afraid to die, he promptly re- 
plied ' No, no, who would be afraid to meet his 
Maker's face, with Jesus for his friend ? I know 
in whom I trust.' He then spoke of different 
relatives and friends who had gone before, and 
whom he expected to meet in heaven, and said, 
'I love my father and my mother, and my sis- 
ters very much, but I love Jesus more, and 
would rather go to Him than stay here.' 

"He suffered comparatively little, and never 



40 ANDREW HART. 

shed a tear from the time he was taken sick till 
he breathed his last. He was in full possession 
of his mental faculties, to all appearance, tip to 
the instant when the breath left his body ; and, 
until he could speak no longer, said that his 
trust was in the Lord; that he was free from, 
all suffering, and. was dying peaceful and happy.. 
"When he could no longer utter words, he re- 
sponded with his head to questions asked and 
sentiments expressed, and remained conscious 
to the last, never for a moment doubting or 
wavering in his faith and hope of salvation, 
through Christ Jesus as his Bedeemer." 

"Thus," continues the narrator, "went out 
from earth one of the brightest minds I ever 
knew; and a bud of promise has thus early 
dropped from its stem, of which there was 
greater hope than of any left behind. But as 
he said himself, 'It is all right. God knows 
what is best.* " 

At ten o'clock on the morning of Wednes- 
day, the 28th of November, 1866, the spirit 
took its flight. The same day a train of sor- 
rowing friends, in the midst of the sympathies 



ANDREW HART. 41 

of a whole city, bore the remains to the bury- 
ing ground of Dr. Kerr, at his home in the 
northern part of the county, where they re- 
mained until a short time ago, when, together 
with those of his two sisters, they were re- 
moved to Elmwood Cemetery, near Memphis. 
There, in one of the most attractive spots in 
that beautiful burying ground, watched over 
and tended with loving care, they rest until it 
shall please our heavenly Father to awaken them 
from their sleep that "they may obtain a better 
resurrection." 





3ARAH WARD KERR. 



Sarah Ward Kerr. 



-fi^pp- 



— ^te^tlk' 



■SF*- 



" Out op the mouth of Babes and Sucelings 
Thou hast peefected Peaise."— Matt. xxi. 1G. 



Sarah Ward Kerr. 




^lAKAH WARD, daughter of 
Rev. Dr. A. H. Kerr, and Mrs. 
Mary Indiana C. Kerr, was born 
at the family homestead, in the 
northern part of Shelby County, 
Term., on the 13th day of June, 
1859. The name Sarah, which she 
received at her baptism, was the name of both 
her grand-mothers, Mrs. Sarah Ward, and Mrs. 
Sarah Kerr. It was also rendered doubly 
dear by the fact that it had been borne 
by an older sister, who had died at four years 
of age. The beautiful homestead with which 
little Sallie's earliest recollections 
ciated, and which was some twenty miles 
distant from the city of Memphis, si ill remains 
as the country residence of Dr. K< n\ bo which 

43 



44 SARAH WARD. 

he is accustomed to retreat with his family dur- 
ing the summer for relief from the noise and 
heat and dust of the city. The large and con- 
modious house in which she was born, perished 
by the hand of an incendiary, and its place has 
been supplied by an humbler and less attrac- 
tive one: but the groves of forest oak, the 
lawns and walks with which her feet were fa- 
miliar, still remain, with all their warm, tender 
associations clustering about them. 

Here in the midst of the calm quietude of a 
country life, surrounded by a large circle of re- 
latives to whom she was tenderly attached, her 
first joyous impressions of home and home- 
life were formed. 

Childhood is in all its great essential charac- 
teristics the same everywhere. He who has 
read the life of one child may in a certain 
sense be said to have read the life of all chil- 
dren. The innocence, the sportiveness, the 
exuberance of joyous life, the freedom from 
anxiety and care, the sphit of confiding trust, 
and simple-hearted, tender love — these, which 
make the joy of one household, are found to a 






SARAH WARP. 4 5 

certain extent in all. The habits of childhood, 
its pursuits, amusements, and companionships, 
its infirmities, trials and crosses, are much the 
same everywhere. A casual observer might 
detect no difference at all. But to the anxious 
parent, who carefully studies the disposition of 
his children from day to day ; or to the faithful 
teacher who compares mind with mind in the 
process of discipline and culture, there ajrpear 
strongly marked outlines of character, sepa- 
rating into classes as clearly and distinctly de 
fined as those which obtain among persons of 
matare age. Even within these classes, too, 
there are slighter shades of difference in tem- 
perament and disposition which clearly distin- 
guish one character from another. 

It is, therefore, with the characters of chil- 
dren, as it is with their faces. The general 
outlines and prominent features are in manj 
cases the same, but there are delicate linea- 
ments, that distinguish one from the other, so 
that they cannot be confounded 

While this is true in reference to all children 
without exception, it is pre-eminently true in 



46 SARAH WARD. 

reference to some with whom we occasionally 
meet. There are those so entirely different in 
temper and disposition from others around 
them, that they constitute a class to themselves 
peculiar and I had almost said anomalous. 
Such certainly was Hart, the noble gifted boy 
of whom we have already written. And such 
was little Sallie whose history we now purpose 
to sketch. She was another of those remarka- 
ble ones, whom God for purposes of His own 
love and mercy has been pleased to enrich with 
rare and peculiar endowments. 

All that has been said in reference to the 
early development of mind and character in 
Hart, will apply with equal force to Sallie. 
Indeed this early development appears yet more 
remarkably in her. The peculiar thirst for 
knowledge, which we have noticed in him, de- 
veloped itself in her at a still earlier period of 
life. She learned to read, as we are informed 
by her parents, at so early an age that at the 
time of her death, although only eight years of 
age, she could not recall the time or the cir- 
cumstances under which she learned ; her ear- 



SARAH WARD. i7 

liest recollections being of books, suited to the 
capacity of a child, which she was engaged in 
reading. There was never the slightest difficulty 
in securing from her the careful and faithful pre- 
paration of the lessons assigned her by teach- 
ers. So eager was her desire to learn that tho 
most difficult tasks became light. Her lessons 
were always well and accurately prepared and 
recited in such a manner as to evidence conclu- 
N sively that she understood them fully, and had 
not simply committed them by rote. Nor was 
she content with the preparation, however tho- 
rough and accurate, of the lessons assigned 
her by her teachers. Instead of confining her- 
self to the hours of study spent in the school- 
room, and forsaking her books for play a 
the hours of school were over, she was accus- 
tomed to retire to her room, and there spend 
hours in reading with pleasure and with profit, 
such books as were suited to the capacitu , 
tastes of a thoughtful child. Her parents, dis- 
covering her fondness for reading, were careful 

to provide her will) such books and papers as 

would give a healthful exercise to her mind and 



48 SARAH WARD. 

impart wholesome moral lessons, and thus she 
early acquired a taste for books of a wholesome 
and instructive character, which, if she had lived, 
would no doubt have kept her from acquiring 
a taste for the flimsy, fictitious literature which 
is poisoning the minds and corrupting the 
hearts of our youth at the present day. 

Her parents record of her that she was never 
satisfied unless she understood as fully as she 
could every subject brought before her mind. 
If anything was said in her presence which she 
did not understand, she would ask question af- 
ter question earnestly, and yet modestly, until 
she received the information she wished. If a 
word was used in conversation whose meaning 
she did not know, she would go quietly to her 
father's library and refer to the dictionary for 
its meaning. Often, before she had strength 
even to lift the large quarto from the shelf, she 
would ask to have it placed upon the floor for 
her that she might seek for the meaning of a 
word. When wearied with her work or her 
toys, she would often, when only five or six 
years of age, prop herself in the bed with pil- 



SARAH WARD. 49 

lows, and read aloud to herself from some fa- 
vourite book, throwing into every sentence the 
full pathos and feeling of her deeply affected 
and interested nature ; and thus she became by 
her own tuition, so exquisite as a reader that it 
was the delight of her friends to listen to her 
reading. 

Her Bible occupied an important place in 
these daily readings. "While poring over its 
pages she often became so much absorbed as to 
be unconscious of the passage of time, and 
and would continue reading and re-reading for 
hours at a time, stopping as she read to repeat 
to herself again and again her favourite pas- 
sages and those which were of most interest to 
her, and uttering such ejaculations as to prove 
that she deeply apprehended the precious truth 
she was receiving into her mind. 

She gave to everything about her serious 
and careful thought. Her opinions upon any 
subject were formed slowly and with conside- 
rable hesitation; but when once formed, sho 
adhered to them with great firmness, and it 



50 SARAH WARD. 

was with difficulty that she could be led to 
change them. 

"When we come to speak of the moral char- 
acter of little Sallie, we must of course speak 
of it as depraved. There is no perfection in 
this world. There is "none righteous, no not 
one." There is no one whose character is 
without fault. "When our Saviour said in the 
temple concerning the sinful woman, "He that 
is without sin among you, let him first cast a 
stone," He meant to teach us the great truth 
that we are all sinners, and that imperfection 
attaches to everything we do. We would not, 
therefore, have our young readers think that 
little Sallie was perfect. She had her defects 
and weaknesses, her faults and imperfections. 
She had her temptations and trials, as well as 
they; and yet her nature was so gentle and 
loving, so full of generosity and good will, that 
all who came in contact with it felt its warm 
and constraining influence. These noble traits 
of character appeared continually in all her re- 
lations to her companions, acquaintances and 
friends. They appeared especially in her inter- 



SARAH WARD. 51 

course with brothers and sisters under the pa- 
rental roof, where her unselfish, generous, con- 
fiding nature made her the object of tenierest 
love to all around her. She was especially re- 
markable for the veneration she always had for 
her parents, and the unquestioning obedience 
she rendered to them in all their commands. 
So completely was she accustomed to subordi- 
nate her own will to that of her parents, that 
they never found it necessary to use any severe 
discipline of any kind with her, and she would 
have felt dishonoured if any correction had 
been administered to her beyond words of 
kindest and tenderest admonition. All that 
she required was to know what her father and 
mother thought it right for her to do, and it 
was done at once without questioning or com- 
plaint. 

We have told our young readers that little 
Sallie was not perfect, that she had her strong 
tenrp Nations and her moments of weakness just 
as all other children have; and now we will 
give them an instance of it, and of the manner 

in which she acted when she had yielded to 



52 SARAH WARD. 

temptation, and done what she felt to be 
wrong. 

On one occasion, her feelings were sorely 
wounded by an inconsiderate child, who seemed 
to take pleasure in crossing her wishes and do- 
ing things which were meant to annoy her. 
Sallie bore for a long time, as patiently as she 
could, the vexations : but at length her temper 
gained the mastery of her, and she retorted 
upon her little playmate in language of the 
keenest and uri kindest severity. Her father, 
who was near, though unobserved, and heard 
all that had passed, waited until his little 
daughter had become calm after the storm of 
passion had subsided, and then calling her to 
him, admonished her in the most tender and 
faithful manner of the sin she had committed 
in giving way to the violence of her anger. 
She listened to him very attentively, and soon 
became deeply affected, the tears coursing 
down her cheeks, and her heart seemingly al- 
most broken with the sense of her guilt. Her 
father permitted her to remain for a few mo- 
ments weeping by his side, and then told her 



SARAH WARD. 53 

that all she could do was to go in secret to 
God and tell Him how she had sinned, and ask 
Him for forgiveness. She then repaired weep- 
ing to her room, and there remained alone for 
some little time. After a while, though, she 
came back to her father with a subdued, peace- 
ful, and even happy face, and when he asked 
her if she had gone to God with her trouble, 
she replied: 

"Yes, sir, I told Him all— I told Him I had 
spoken hastily with my lips, and had sinned, 
and I asked Him for Jesus' sake to forgive me 
and not let me do so any more." 

Her father then asked her why she asked 
God to forgive her for Jesus sake. Her reply 
was: 

"If I had asked Him forever to forgiv 
for my own sake, he could not have done it. I 
am nothing, but Jesus is everything with 
Him." 

Her father asked again: 

"Do you think that God lias forgiven you 
for this sin, my child V 

She answered: 



54 SARAH WARD. 

"Yes, sir." 

"And why do you think so?" 

'•Because He has said, 'Ask and it shall be 
given you,' and whatever He has said, He will 
do ; and besides, I have the feeling in nry heart 
that He has forgiven me." 

'•'And did you tell Him anything," asked her 
father, "about the little child that tempted 
you?" 

"Yes, sir, I asked God to forgive her too, 
and not to let her do so any more." 

'•'And do you think that from your heart you 
forgive yoiu little companion?" 

'•Yes, sir, I do." 

"Then," said the father, "I also forgive you, 
but remember that these tenrptations will come 
upon you, and you must watch and pray that 
you may not enter again into temptation." 

Our little readers are not to infer from what 
we have written, that little Sallie was in feel- 
ing and tastes, a grown-up woman rather than 
a child. She had her sports and her diver- 
sions, as other children have. She had her lit- 
tle storehouse of toys and playthings, of pic- 



SARAH WARD. 55 

ture-books and presents. These she was very 
fond of looking over, and arranging, and she 
always took great pleasure in exhibiting them 
to her young Mends, and having them enjoy 
them with her. But she differed from most 
children in her great love of retirement and 
solitude. She loved to be alone. When her 
toys were to be readjusted, or her first experi- 
ences in knitting and sewing were to be gained, 
or when she had some favourite book to read, 
she always sought to be alone. On these occa- 
sions, it was not unfrequently the case that she 
became so absorbed as to be entirely uncon- 
scious of the passage of time, and to give audi- 
ble expression to her feelings by singing, in 
subdued and softened tones, the hymns with 
which she was most familiar, and which seemed, 
many of them, to be expressions of the deep 
yearning emotions of her young heart. 

Among those hymns which she oftenest sang 
in this way were such as these: "The day is 
past and gone," "Father, whate'er of earthly 
bliss," "Children of the Heavenly King," &o. 

She would also, apparently, without the con- 



56 SARAH WARD. 

sciousness that she was doing so audibly, give 
utterance, from time to time, in a low softened 
undertone, to such expressions as these: "Mer- 
ciful God, give me a clean heart." "Gracious 
Father, write my name in the Lamb's Book of 
Life." "Name ever dear to me." "Sweet, 
sweet Heaven." "I'll wear my golden crown 
with angels bright in Heaven," &c. 

The question at what time little Sallie gave 
her heart to the Lord, is one that cannot be 
easily determined. We would not assert that 
she was regenerated in early infancy ; and yet 
it is certain that from the first dawning of her 
intellectual and moral faculties they were sin- 
gularly impressible, and readily awakened and 
interested upon the all-important subject of re- 
ligion. Perceiving at a very early period her 
fondness for religious knowledge, her parents 
took great delight in imparting to her such 
instruction as would tend to direct her thoughts 
toward religious things, and give a religious 
direction to all her course of study. The re-* 
suit of this was seen in her fondness for reli- 
gious reading, and especially for the best of all 



SARAH WARD. 57 

books, the Bible. It was the habit of the 
mother of little Sallie, while the children were 
very small to have them kneel at her side 
nightly and offer their prayers to God ; and 
when they grew a little older, she would send 
them away, saying : "Now you must go to God 
by yourself and pray to Him in secret, telling 
Him the desires of your hearts," giving them 
suitable instructions as to the manner and 
spirit hi which they should make their a]> 
• proach to God , the duty of prayer, the privi- 
lege of prayer, the encouragements given to 
prayer in the word of God, &c, &c. The 
blessing of God upon this course of instruc- 
tion is seen in the fact that upon little Sallie's 
death-bed, when her mother asked her if she 
had been praying since she was taken sick, her 
answer was, " Why, yes, mother, I have prayed 
all the time." 

Of those influences which, aside from tender 
parental counsel, instruction and prayer, tended 
to develope in Sallie her peculiar religious 
character and disposition — those means which 
God of His great mercy and grace was pleased 



58 SARAH WARD, 

to bless under the agency of His Holy Spirit, 
we may mention two in particular. The first 
was the influence of a pious, devoted teacher. 

It was always the conviction of Dr. Kerr, 
that it is better, as far as possible, to guard 
children against the early impressions unfa- 
vourable to piety, made by associates who are 
irreligious and immoral, and to surround them 
only by such influences as are favourable to 
then spiritual growth. Hence he employed, as 
far as possible, a teacher within his own house 
where his children would be continually within 
the influence of the home circle, until those 
principles had been implanted and infixed, 
which were necessary for their guidance when 
brought into contact with high school or uni- 
versity life. 

Sallie had, therefore, the example and in- 
struction of a Christian teacher, who was, for 
the time being, a member of her father's fam- 
ily, and a constant companion of those whom 
she taught. As Sallie was greatly devoted to 
her teacher, we will introduce here a brief 






SARAH WARD. 59' 

sketch of this lovely Christian woman, who is 
now, as we trust, a saint in heaven. 

Miss Anna D. Spalding, a grand-daughter of 
the late Kev. Dr. Johnson, for forty years pas- 
tor of the Presbyterian church in Newburg, 
New York, (with whose memoirs, written by 
Dr. Carnahan, of Princeton, N. J., many of our 
readers are familiar,) was for seven years the 
indefatigable, faithful teacher of the children of 
Dr. Kerr. An accurate student herself, nothing 
seemed to give her so much pleasure as to im- 
part to her little charge the knowledge she 
possessed, and to co-operate with her pa- 
rents in all their intellectual, moral, and reli- 
gious culture. In the family circle, in the pri- 
vate retirement and personal conversation of 
every-day life, the influence of her Christian 
example, her counsel and instruction, was most 
beneficial in every respect. The very tenderest 
relations were established between her and all 
the members of the family. They loved her as 
though she was one of the family, and her own 
feelings toward them were those of a daughter 
and older sister. Little Sallie was especially 



60 SARAH WARD. 

devoted to her — many, many were the precious 
hours they spent together in affectionate inter- 
course and endearment. But this dehghtful 
relationship was soon to be broken up. In the 
Providence of God, this dear teacher was to be 
called to her reward. She was suddenly and 
violently seized with pneumonia, which rapidly 
preyed upon her lungs, and it was but a few 
days until the seal of approaching death was 
manifestly upon her. "When she was informed 
that her illness must, in all human probability, 
soon prove fatal, she turned and looked with 
intense earnestness, and with searching gaze, 
upon the speaker, and asked, "Do you think 
sof And when answered affirmatively, she 
replied, "You do not know how thankful I am 
that God has not left me to this hour of weak- 
ness and pain to prepare to meet Him. I am 
not afraid to die. I know whom I have be- 
lieved. It will be better, far better with me." 
It was a sad sight to see the little ones cluster- 
ing about the bed, weeping as if their hearts 
would break at the thought of the painful sepa- 
ration ; but with her all was light. A diary was 



SARAH WARD. 61 

kept by Dr. Kerr for the benefit of her widowed 
mother and brothers and sisters, and this diary 
shows how triumphant was the victory gained 
over death. 

On the second day after her decease, the 
members of the church of Delta, of which Dr. 
K. was pastor, and of which she was a member, 
together with many other personal friends, as- 
sembled at the house of the pastor, where he 
delivered a brief discourse from the words — 
Luke ii: 36, 37 — "And there was one Anna, a 
prophetess, which departed not from the tem- 
ple, but served God with fastings and prayers 
night and day." 

It was a scene of tenderness such as is sel- 
dom witnessed, when the pastor opened the 
diary and read those passages which respected 
the great grace of God to His hand-maiden, 
and her glorious triumph over death. 

The impression of tins scene upon the mind 
of Sallie was deep and profound. It was one 
of the instrumentalities being employed by the 
Holy Spirit in preparing her for His heavenly 
kingdom. 



62 SARAH WARD. 

Then followed the sudden, glorious death of 
her brother Hart, of which we have already 
spoken, and which occurred in less than a year 
after the death of her beloved teacher; then 
the death of her sister Mary, of which we shall 
speak very soon — all tending to exert their in- 
fluence upon the mind of the gifted child, to 
render her more thoughtful, more devoted to 
religious duties, religious books and religious 
companionships, and more serious in her whole 
character and demeanor. 

The last severe trial to which it pleased God 
to subject her previous to her own fatal illness, 
was the sudden and alarming sickness of her 
father, from which it was thought, for many 
days, that he could not recover. This new 
trial, following upon so many others, seemed to 
be more than she could bear. Her flowing 
tears, the agony with which she would wring 
her little hands, the frequency with which she 
would come noiselessly to the bed-side, the in- 
tense emotion with which she would look into 
her father's face, and the tenderness with which 
she would ask, "Do you feel better now, Pa?" 



SARAH WARD. G3 

all these form part of the tender, precious leg- 
acy which memory has treasured up for the 
comfort and solace of stricken hearts. All too 
were part of the loving discipline by which our 
Heavenly Father was preparing the dear one 
for those heavenly mansions into which she was 
soon to be received. 

We now approach the period when, this work 
of preparation having been accomplished, "an 
entrance was to be ministered unto her abun- 
dantly into the everlasting kingdom of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." How often, 
in the experience of a household from which a 
dear one has been taken away, there are re- 
called scenes of special tenderness, premoni- 
tory, as it were, of the coming separation ; in 
which the spirit seems to have been uncon- 
sciously hovering upon the border land, and 
giving special tokens of its love ere it should 
plume its wings for a brighter world. How 
few stricken households there are in which 
there are not the recollections of such tender 
interviews, deep heart communings, loving 
words, gentle acts of kindness, which after the 



64: SARAH WARD. 

loved one has gone, have seemed to us as the 
banking of the fleecy clouds at sunset, which 
God's hand gathers along the western sky, that 
the sun may go down in all his golden glory. 

Such was the case in the home from which 
little Sallie was taken. Dr. Kerr had suffi- 
ciently recovered from the severe illness to 
which we have alluded, to leave his home, 
though in great feebleness, to attend the meet- 
ing of the General Assembly at Nashville, 
Tenn. 

As the Moderator of the previous Assembly, 
the duty devolved upon him to constitute the 
present Assembly, and to deliver the opening 
sermon. As he left his home, the family from 
whom two precious links had already been 
taken, gathered around him to bid him farewell, 
their thoughts all intensely and anxiously fixed 
upon him in his feebleness of body, and in the 
fatiguing journey and labours before him. The 
last member of the family upon whose lips he 
imprinted the parting kiss, was dear little Sallie 
who had followed him out of the house and to 
the door of his carriage. As she raised her 



SARAH WARD. 65 

lips to receive his parting kiss, there was man- 
ifested so much emotion in her countenance, 
so much tenderness mingled with such inex- 
pressible sadness, that there thrust itself into 
the mind of the father the torturing inquiry, 
"Can it be that I am parting with this precious 
little treasure for the last time?" And the 
frame of the strong man quivered with emotion, 
and the great tears flowed down his cheeks as 
he sought in vain to rid himself of the present- 
iment. 

Meanwhile the carriage rolled away from the 
door. The husband and father sped upon his 
journey. The mother and children returned to 
their accustomed pursuits. But it was not long 
until again, as so often before, the thoughts 
and anxieties and sympathies of all the house- 
hold were turned upon one member. For sev- 
eral days after the departure of Dr. Kerr, Sal- 
lie had complained of pain in her throat. For 
a day or two she was confined to her bed, but 
OD the Tuesday following she was up aga 
and but little anxiety was felt by the mother 
and the physician. On Wednesday morning, 



66 SARAH WARD. 

however, symptoms of croup had appeared in 
a violent form. 

Dr. John K. Kerr, brother of Eev. Dr. Kerr, 
and a ruling elder in his church, a man not 
only of great skill and eminence in his profes- 
sion, of which he has been a practitioner for 
thirty or forty years, but of exalted christian 
character and devoted piety, ministered by the 
bed-side of the little sufferer, and did all that 
intelligent skill and sympathising care could do 
for her relief. The next day (Thursday,) the 
symptoms had become so alarming that it was 
deemed necessary to send a telegram for the 
absent father. The message was conveyed with 
as much expedition as possible to Memphis, 
and thence flashed over the wires to Dr. Kerr, 
at Nashville. It was handed to him while 
seated at the table of the hotel, surrounded by 
ministerial brethren and friends, and he imme- 
diately arose, saying, "my daughter is dead. 
It is the Lord, let Him do as seemeth good in 
His sight." The next train bore the stricken 
parent to Memphis, where, at the house of his 
brother, Judge B. L. Kerr, of Memphis, the 



SA11AII WARD. 67 

following very touching and characteristic let- 
ter addressed by Dr. John K. Kerr, the attend- 
ing physician, to his brother, Judge Kerr, was 
placed in his hands. 

To those who are personally acquainted with 
the writer, and who know the calmness of his 
judgment, and the habitual moderation of his 
language, these simple but eloquent words will 
convey some just impression of the wonderful 
exhibitions of the grace of God, that were 
made in the chamber of the dying one. 

Big Creek, Tenn., ) 

November 22d, 1867. ) 

This morning I wrote you of the great danger into 
which Sallie had been brought by croup. I now write 
to say that at twenty-two minutes to nine o'clock this 
evening she breathed her last. I have witnessed many 
deaths, but never one so glorious as this. Oh ! sir, if 
you could have witnessed it, it would have don< 
good to the last day of your life. How clear w< 

of the plan of salvation ! What kind and appro- 
bo all her abt i at friends! and 
what astonishing words of counsel and advice she ad- 
1 to those with whom she was surrounds d! The 
is i»iii just over; audas I write I am I" rildered 



68 SARAH WARD. 

by what I have witnessed. In form, as you know, she 
was but a child eight years old, whilst her words and 
conduct showed to what heights of moral and intellec- 
tual truth she had attained. There is, my brother, such 
a thing as dying grace. Who was it that held up the 
tiny hand of this little one, as all alone she passed 
through "the valley and shadow of death," enabling 
her to shout the praises of Him, who has taken away 
the fear of the grave and the sting of death? But I 
must cease, feeling my utter inability to do justice to 
the exhibitions of the power of the grace of God we 
have just witnessed. You must wait and learn from 
those present the full particulars of this truly wonder- 
ful scene. 

No language can adequately describe the 
deep and conflicting emotions with which the 
afflicted father received these tidings. No pa- 
rent's heart ever yearned with more tenderness 
over his children than did that of Dr. Kerr. 
The successive strokes that had come upon 
him, had by no means dried up the fountains of 
human grief, or deadened the tender sensibilities 
of the smitten heart. On the contrary, as one 
after another had been taken away, the bruised 
affections had clustered all the more tenderly 



SARAH WARD. 69 

around those that remained. To give up this 
dear, gifted, wonderful child, was a stroke that 
might well prostrate the heart in the dust. 
But then, to have her departure so lighted up 
with the manifest presence and power of God; 
to feel as though the very gates of heaven had 
been visibly opened to receive her, and the an- 
gelic cohorts sent down to bear her up, how 
could he do otherwise than rejoice and say 
with one of old, "My soul doth magnify the 
Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my 
Saviour; for He that is mighty hath done to 
me great things, and holy is His name, and His 
mercy is on them that fear Him from genera- 
tion to generation." We are prepared there- 
fore to hear from one who was present, that, 
" with mingled shouts of joy and tears of grief, 
the chastened servant of God read tliis beauti- 
ful and touching story of his little christian's 
triumphant death, and with many 1 ex- 

pressions, glorified a merciful Heavenly Father 
for the measure of dying grace vouchsafed his 
child in answer to ceaseless prayer, off 



70 SARAH WARD. 

from the moment when he received the intelli- 
gence of her fatal illness." 

But we are keeping our readers away from 
the hallowed scenes of the chamber of sick- 
ness. "With a hand almost tremulous with 
emotion, we draw aside the curtain, feeling that 
there is more of heaven than of earth within. 
And oh how ardently we pray that our young 
readers, as they peruse this narrative, may lift 
up their hearts in faith and love to the blessed 
Bedeemer, and ask of Him the same rich grace 
to guide them through the journey of life, and 
bring them safely to the same blissful and 
triumphant end. 

For the full particulars of the last hours of 
little Sallie, we are indebted to a favourite cou- 
sin, Colonel John S. Kerr, of Memphis, who 
was present, and an eye-witness of the scene : 

"Although little Sallie had been regarded 
by all who knew her as a child of uncommon 
endowments * * * it was reserved to the 
hour of her triumph, when the soul had risen 
and disencumbered itself as it were of the 
mortal weight, in readiness for the celestial 



SARAH WARD. TL 

flight, for her to display a wealth of mental and 
spiritual endowment, which filled those who 
witnessed the scene with unutterable amaze- 
ment, and fixed impressions upon their minds 
and hearts which time can never erase. 

To the very last moment of her earthly ex- 
istence, little Sallie appeared to possess her fa- 
culties in undiminished vigor, and until with- 
in a few minutes of her death was able to talk, 
and although her breathing was very laboured 
and difficult, she never for an instant com- 
plained, but talked incessantly of her confident 
hope of glory, and of her trust in the Re- 
deemer, exhorting those near her to prepare for 
the dying hour. 

When told that she would probably not get 
well, she received the announcement without 
the slightest apparent agitation ; and with a 
smile radiant with joy, replied : 

"I am not afraid to die ; my trust is in 
Jesus." 

Her mother inquired of her what she must 
say to her fetther for her. She replied promptly : 

"Tell Pa how much I love him, and thai L 



72 SARAH WARD. 

wanted to see him very much, and that I was 
not afraid to die. for I trust in Jesus as my 
only 1 Lid that he must meet me in hea- 

ven." Then clasping her hands, and looking up, 
she said: 

"Lord, make me a good child, and prepare 
me to live in heaven." 

After thi about her 

. she said: 

"You. must all pray and meet me in heaven." 

Her mother asked : 

" Sallie. did you pray. dear, before you were 
taken sick?" 

She repli 

""Why yes. 31a. I prayed all the tim 

She asked her also, if it was God's will, if 
she would rather get well and live longer with 
her Pa and Ma ! 

She at once repli 

"Ma, it is not God's will; He ha* 
■ 

Then suddenly looking around upon those 
near her. vrith an air of earnest inquiry, she 
asked: 



SARAH WARD. 73 

" Who will write my vnll?" 

Supposing that she wished to bestow her 
little treasures upon those she loved, she was 
asked what it was that she desired to give away. 

"Oh," she said, "I don't mean that; who 
will write the words I say?" evidently being 
impressed with a strong feeling of inspiration. 

Again folding her hands and turning her 
eyes toward heaven, she prayed : 

"Lord, make me a good child, and let me 
trust in Jesus." 

Calling her sister Lady, two years older than 
herself, she said to her : 

"Lady, you are getting old; do you love 
God? You must get ready to die and meet me 
in heaven. You must pray, and pray hardy 

Tuiinng to her little sister "Sugie," two 
years younger than herself, she said : 

" Sugie, you must meet me in heaven, too." 

When one of the servant women — who a few 
days before had made a profession of religion, 
and seemed very happy — came in to see her, 
clasping her little hands, and smiling joyfully, 
she exclaimed : 



74 SARAH WARD. 

"Glory! Mamy, don't get weary; hold out 
to meet nie in heaven." 

And to another servant, a wild, giddy young 
girl, vrho was in the habit of ridiculing the 
prayers of the pious negroes on the place by 
mocking them, she said: 

"Ritta, you must quit those long words of 
yours, and when you pray, think what you are 
Baying. " 

Several familiar and encouraging passages of 
Scripture were repeated to her, to which she 
responded with great delight. It was inquired 
of her, who it was that said, " Suffer the little 
children to come unto me, and forbid them 
not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven ?" 

Her ready response was : 

"Jesus." 

In reply to her mother, who asked her again 
if it was God's will, if she would not be willing 
to stay on earth with her Mends who loved her 
so much, she said: 

"Oh, Ma, I shall be so much better off; I 
shall be so happy in heaven with sister and_ 



SARAH WARD. 75 

brother, and then I shall have on my golden 
crown." 

She then requested that her friends should 
sing for her "Children of the Heavenly King," 
and other Sunday School hymns. 

For each of her friends and relatives, she 
had appropriate words of admonition to offer, 
and left messages for many who were absent. 
The name of a favourite cousin being men- 
tioned, she smiled, and with many endearing 
words, calling him by a pet name she had for 
him, said: 

" Tell him for me how much I love him ; for 
I do love him so much; and tell him that he 
must meet me in heaven." 

To her uncle she said with great earnest- 
ness : 

"Uncle John, you must give all your children 
to God, and put your trust in Jesus." 

To another relative, as she entered the room, 
she exclaimed : 

"I am going to the kingdom." 

Of another she inquired: 

"Do yon pray? Are you ready to diet" and 



7<j SARAH WARP. 

: *'I trust in Testis, and am i 1 to die/ ? 

years older than her- 

s ho same in weepings and bowed her head 

: -~ : - -"•-"-"--' --- neon. — - pattmg hei :o 

••Don't cry. ooT7,-7 dint grieve for nit: I am 
ToTl to die Tom no;.-: pi ay. . 
Or: realy ;: meet me in heaven.'" 

unreoaoestel in- hei friends ,h: 

b ooo Tired to give her great delight. 
When the one whhh begins. •■ Father, ~T 
:■: earthly bliss."" was sung, .she whimpered. "So 

- 7:: T 

Alter this. >he noe-e - ta have the 

Bible read;and when t Psalm, beginning 

"The Lord is my Shepherd." was read to her. 
she sail: 

"I 

Thr 103d Psalm was ah: to Ten she 

sail she -vantel t- hear abao anion. 

Soon, growing very weak, she said she c 
not talk, but desired : Ted to. and sail: 



SARAH WARD. 77 

"Tell me a Bible story; I know about Jo- 
seph, tell me about Moses." 

Very shortly before she died, and when she 
was supposed to .be too far gone to speak, ad- 
dressing herself to a young cousin who had 
just entered the room, she said: 

a Wilhe, I am going to glory; I will never 
come back here any more; I shall there see 
sister and brother, and be so happy. There 
will be no more sorrow, and 'not a wave of 
trouble Toll across this peaceful breast.'" 

The very last act of her life displayed the 
utmost composure. Stripping a ring from her 
finger, she handed it to her mother, and point- 
ing to her little sister, said : 

"For Sugie." 

After her sight had failed, and not exceeding 
five minutes before she ceased to breathe for- 
ever, she was asked if she was afraid to die. 

In a barely audible whisper she replied : 

"No; I trust in Jesus;" and these were the 

last words she ever uttered. 

11 Behold, what condescending love 
Jesus on earth displays, 
To babes and BUOklingB H** extends 
The riches of Bis grace." 




- 



— *» 




Mary Clarissa Kerr. 



— ^ 



fi&m'S.. 



^mssmnsi 



W5&" 



" Suffer the Little Children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom 
of God." — Mark x. 14. 



Mary Clarissa Kerr. 




N the Wo preceding sketches 
we have seen how wonderfully 
the grace of God was manifest- 
ed hi bringing two of the dear 
^children of the church to Jesus, 
and giving them in childhood the 
5.3SI Y ^ or J over death and the grave. 
We are now to see this same grace illustrated 
in one who was permitted to live through the 
period of youth, which is most fraught with 
temptation, and to exhibit a life of pure and 
holy consecration to God in the midst of the 
allurements and vanities of the world. To 
many of our young readers, who are tossed 
themselves upon the same waves of tempta- 
tion, and would gladly find some safe anchor- 
age from them, it is hoped that tin 
81 



82 MARY CLARISSA. 

will possess a special interest, as revealing to 
them the secret of a life spent in the midst of 
the empty but fascinating pleasures of the 
world, free from their debasing influence and 
control — a life, spent in the enjoyment of that 
pure, peaceful happiness, which springs from 
the consciousness of the favour of God, of the 
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, of the love 
of Christ Jesus, and of the esteem and appro- 
bation of all pure and holy beings. If any of 
the baptized children of the church into whose 
hands this little volume may fall, are in dan- 
ger of being led away into scenes of dissipa- 
tion and frivolity, where all thought of religion 
and religious things will be swept away by 
the tide of sensuality and sinful indulgence, 
let them first read this little biography of 
Mary Kerr, and then ask themselves the ques- 
tion, is not the pure, calm, peaceful happiness 
of such a life as this, spent under the sunlight 
of God's smile, with the daily whispers of an 
approving conscience, in the goodly fellowship 
of the church of God and in the assured hope 
of everlasting life, worth more than all they 



MARY CLARISSA. 83 

can ever hope to gain by a life of sinful pleasure 
in conformity to the spirit of the world. It is 
with the hope that the example of this young 
servant of God may be blessed in deciding 
many others to choose the same path of wis- 
dom, that these lines are written. 

Mary Clarissa, second daughter of Rev. Dr. 
A. H. and Mrs. Mary I. C. Kerr was born in 
Davidson County, Tenn., near "The Hermi- 
tage," on the 20th day of December 1847, and 
was baptized, when only a few months of age, 
in the First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, 
Tenn., by Rev. John T. Edgar, D. D., then the 
beloved pastor of that church. 

Of the early childhood of Mary we shall have 
comparatively little to say; partly because it 
would require us to repeat much that has al- 
ready been said in reference to Hart and Sallie, 
but chiefly because we desire to direct the at- 
tention of our readers particularly to that por- 
tion of her life winch was spent after she be- 
came a professor of the religion of Christ. 

We may say, however, that she was naturally 
a child of great vivacity and joyousness of 



84 MARY CLARISSA. 

spirit. Her temperament was by nature ar- 
dent and hopeful, and until the weight of suc- 
cessive afflictions had overshadowed her young 
life, and tinged her nature with sadness she 
was as joyous and light-hearted a child as was 
ever known. The first of these afflictions came 
upon her when only about four years of age, 
in the death of a maiden aunt, Miss Maria 
Randolph Kerr, her father's youngest sister, to 
whom she was very tenderly attached. This 
was soon followed by a second and still severer 
blow in the death of her oldest, and at that 
time only sister, two years elder than herself. 
Then only a month later came the death of her 
only brother, an infant only a few months of 
age. And again, within a few months, her be- 
loved and fond grandmother, Mrs. Sarah Ward, 
was taken away. Thus, in a very brief space 
of time, affliction after affliction came until she 
was left to nestle all alone upon the aching bo- 
soms of her stricken and sorrowing parents. 
Child as she was, she felt deeply and perma- 
nently the influence of these bereavements. 
"The bouyancy and joyousness of her spirit 



MARY CLARISSA. 85 

gave place to a calm, sedate, thoughtful de- 
meanour, which seemed remarkable in one so 
young. 

Her religious impressions date from this 
early period. To soothe and comfort her un- 
der a sense of her loneliness, and especially in 
her sorrow for the loss of the dear little sister 
who had been her playmate and companion, 
her parents were accustomed to read a great 
deal to her from the word of God, and to spend 
much time in directing her mind to such 
thoughts as were calculated to cheer and com- 
fort her. They would tell her of the death of 
Jesus, of His resurrection from the dead, and 
His ascension to heaven; they would explain 
to her that the departed saints were only sleep- 
ing in the ground ; that their spirits were now 
in heaven with Jesus; that bye-and-bye He 
would awaken their sleeping dust to a glorious 
resurrection; that good parents and children 
would all be ultimately re-united in unbroken 
families in heaven. Then tho conversation 
would turn upon the dear ones who were de- 
parted; their names and memories would b re 



86 MARY CLARISSA. 

called; the circumstances of their death, the 
state of present felicity into which it is hoped 
they have entered, and the coming joy when 
God through His great mercy should bring all 
the family together in His heavenly kingdom.- 
In this way not only was much of the gloom 
lifted from her young spirit, but her thoughts 
were turned into distinctly religious channels, 
and she acquired a love of those great Scrip- 
ture truths which He at the foundation of our 
faith. 

Her religious history unquestionably dates 
back to this early period. During this time of 
affliction she received impressions which were 
never obliterated either by the lapse of time or 
by youthful associations and pleasures. Her 
father records of her that often during this 
early period of her life, her voice could be 
heard, under the shade of the trees in the 
grove, or in the silence of her chamber, sing- 
ing the precious hymns which she had heard 
from her sister; often accompanying them by 
audible prayers in her simple language for a 
new heart, and for preparation for the .kingdom 



MARY CLARISSA. 87 

of heaven. And this interest in religious things 
manifested itself more and more, as she grew 
older, in her fondness for the word of God, her 
love of devotional hymns, her manifest enjoy- 
ment of the services of the sanctuary, and her 
scrupulousness in the performance of her own 
private religious duties. The anxiety of her 
parents for her salvation, and their solicitude 
to see her among the number of the true fol- 
lowers of Christ became greater and greater 
every day. 

At length, when she was not quite thirteen 
years of age, her father appointed a communion 
season, hoping that during its solemn services 
she might be led by the Holy Spirit to give her 
heart to the Saviour. The services were pro- 
tracted through ten or twelve days, and al- 
though the pastor had no one to assist him, he 
continued to preach day and night, seeing the 
interest manifested, especially by the youth of 
the congregation. 

Mary was perhaps the very first of the hearers 
who gave evidence of deep conviction, and al- 
though she exhibited no great excitement or 



SS MARY CLARISSA. 

emotion, her heart seemed as if it would break 
under the dreadful sense of her guilt and sin- 
fulness. And yet. although east down into the 
very depths of despair, her heart seemed to be 
made of adamant. It refused to accept of 
Christ as a Saviour. It turned away from the 
one only source of relief, and the burden seemed 
as if it would indeed crush her to the earth. 
For several days this was her melancholy con- 
dition. She gave up every other employment, 
abandoned every other pursuit, that she might 
devote her whole time to seeking her soul's sal- 
vation. When not at church she was in her 
closet, upon her knees, with her Bible before 
her. or sitting weeping upon her chair, whilst 
her father in vain sought to direct her to the 
only true source of relief 

At length, however, in God's great mercy the 
relief came. It was during the exercises of 
family prayer. The father had been pouring 
out his heart in prayer before God. that He 
would remove the darkness from the mind of 
his dear child: that He would take away the 
heart of stone and give her a new heart, that 



MARY CLARISSA. 89 

she might know the preciousness of the Re- 
deemer, and trust Him with all her heart. 
"When the prayer was ended, and the family 
arose from their knees, Mary rushed to her 
father, and throwing her arms around his neck, 
exclaimed with the deepest emotion, " Oh, Pa ! 
Pa ! Pa ! I have found Jesus. * Oh, Ma, Ma, 
I have found the Saviour," then, turning to her 
brother Hart, who was then only six years of 
age, she said "O, my dear brother, I have 
found a precious Saviour; give Him your little 
heart. I know He loves little children. My 
heart is full of His love." Then turning to 
her father, she said, "Pa, let me go and tell 
uncle John and aunt Susan, and my cousins, 
(Dr. John K. Kerr and his family,) what a pre 
cious Saviour I have found ;" and though it was 
then between ten and eleven o'clock at night, 
she bounded away, to tell her friends and kin- 
dred " what great things the Lord hath done 
for her." 

In the household of her uncle, whom she had 
gone to see, were three daughters, her cousins, 
whom sho tenderly loved, and who like herself, 



90 MAEY CLARISSA. 

had been deeply convicted and were straggling 
with the fearful darkness of their unregenerate 
natures. About midnight, while the father of 
Mary was rejoicing over the conversion of his 
own child, and earnestly wrestling in prayer 
fbr the salvation of the dear children of his 
brother, he heard footsteps at his door, and in 
& moment Mary returned bringing one of her 
cousins with her, saying, "Oh, Pa, here is 
cousin B. She has found the Saviour too." 
In about half an hour, while these young spirits 
were mingling their rejoicings, and uttering 
the praises of their Eedeemer, another, and 
finally the third cousin came to tell the same 
wonderful story of God's great mercy and 
grace. 

How does such a scene as this transcend the 
power of human language to describe ! What 
an illustration does it give of the power of 
prater, and of God's great grace and mercy 
in fulfilling His covenant, and keeping his pro- 
mises to them who put their trust in Him. 

On the following Sabbath, the 29th of Sep- 
tember 1860, Mary, together with a number of 



MARY CLiRISSA. 91 

others, was, upon public profession of her 
faith in Christ, received by the session into the 
full communion of the visible church of Christ. 
The occasion was one peculiarly solemn and 
affecting, rendered so not only by the fact that 
a father was officiating in the reception of his 
own child into the communion of saints, but 
by the view of the faithfulness of God to His 
covenant, which it afforded the pastor the op- 
portunity of presenting. Reviewing the his- 
tory of God's mercy to those in the assembly 
who were related to him by blood, he said: 
"In common with those who are of my own 
kindred here, I trace my lineage through suc- 
cessive generations to two brothers who lived 
and died in Scotland many years ago. They 
were men eminent for their piety and for their 
devotion to the Presbyterian Church. They 
were men who revered and honoured God's 
covenant, to whom the seal of that covenant in 
baptism was a precious, priceless ordinance, and 
who were accustomed to train their children, as 
those who had been dedicated to God from 
their childhood, and by covenant right were 






: : - ' v : i -i ?. : 5 s a . 



His. TVhen I recall to mind my venerable 

be nearly an himdred Em 1 fi 

when I revert to the memory of my sainted 

lather, whom I revere most : ill -cause he 

: .:-'..-■'. ■_. ". -"jjr^-f;! :z_i__i-.-i :: ~— -;.- 
: — li-riil LtZt:: tsjiz. :_1t :;.;: : 
I : -".-.It;.- .:: t •_■ t:l__;::- .". : ;■ «:;-.-_.". 

Ld'r :: - ." ..— ;.- ;-. nizis.fi : :Lt i*:stt1 of 

Elders l_ the house : T.»d; that those of my 

brrrLri's "_~. -:-:t_- — 1: '_;~t _::_r ".:~o_ :: 
:Lt .: /t j_:.-t Vlri. ~--t-^ h. ~— :>. /.-__. -'___:: 
my only surviving sister is safely within the 
visible fold of Hie Great Shepherd, bow can I 
evei snfficiently extol God s great mercy in His 
: i: "\1i_t— :; Z:- ::~r- .-_-- ~1:1 :_" :.:l-r_- 

scene at the conmxonion table to-day. and re- 

nezibrr :'_:-.. :::_ :: :iif iirivi :'_il : _ri ~_: sir 
down at the [Lord's table for the first time are 
the grandchildren of my father ; that at this 
same board sits, as a member of this church. 
one of his great-granddaughters, and that just 



M,\RY CLARIS 93 

there (pointing to a little child seated in the 
midst of the Assembly), sits his great-great- 
grandson, upon whose face I myself have been 
honoured in putting the seal of God's cove- 
nant ; when I look forward with assured confi- 
dence to the time when he too, in common with 
so many others, shall be made a happy partici- 
pant of God's covenanted mercy and grace, is 
it any wonder that my eyes overflow with tears 
of joy, and my heart is full of thanksgiving and 
praise to Him who hath remembered' His cove- 
nant, and hath established His faithfulness in 
the very heavens ? And oh, my friends, you 
who are still without the pale of God's church 
and covenant ; you who have never dedicated 
to Him either yourselves or your children; 
who have never had impressed, either upon you 
or upon them, the seal of this holy covenant be- 
tween God and men, is there not something in 
all this to encourage you to come to Hun this 
day, to enter into covenant with Him, that these 
blessings may be your inheritance raid the in- 
heritance of your children ! ' 
Our young readers now see Mary brought 



94 MARY CLARISSA. 

by profession of her faith within the communion 
of the church of Christ," a young disciple, only 
thirteen years of age, surrounded on every 
hand by temptations, with many conflicts to be 
endured, and many crosses to be borne, but 
with a spirit humble, earnest, resolute and 
courageous, resting peacefully and joyously in 
the promises of God, and in the assurance that 
her strength will be equal to her day. Let 
us now trace for them the characteristics which 
distinguished her as a professor of the religion 
of Jesus Christ. 

And the first of these which impresses itself 
upon us as we read the memoranda which have 
been placed in our hands, is her conscientious 
faithfulness to the secret duties of religion. 
No professing Christian can hope to make pro- 
gress in the divine life without leaving strict 
and constant attention to the duties of the 
closet. With how many professed followers of 
Christ, especially among the young, does the 
first decline in the religious life begin in the 
neglect of secret prayer ! It was not so with 
Mary. She had stated hours for secret com- 



MARY CLARISSA. 95 

munion with God, and with these no company 
or companionship was permitted to interfere. 
Night and morning she read God's holy word, 
poring over its pages as the chart winch God 
had given to guide her to a brighter world. 
Upon her knees in secret prayer she sought 
and obtained daily such supplies of grace as 
she needed to keep her from temptation, and 
this was one secret of a religious life which was 
not only consistent and blameless, but was 
also elevated and sanctified beyond most of 
her age. 

Another characteristic of Mary as a chris- 
tian was her great love for the word of God, 
and her delight in studying the doctrines and 
truths which it contains. She was not content, 
as so many christians are, with merely reading 
a chapter every morning and evening for devo- 
tional purposes. From very early childhood 
she was accustomed to spend much of the day 
in reading those parts of it which were most 
interesting to her, such as its histories, biogra- 
phies, &c. When she became older, it was still 
her favourite book. She not only read it, but 



96 MARY CLARISSA. 

studied it, bringing to her assistance all the 
helps, such as Commentaries, Bible Dictionary, 
&c, to which she had access. In order to fix 
its blessed truths in her mind, she was accus- 
tomed to write out those passages which seemed 
to her most striking and impressive, and in con- 
nection with them, the most important and in- 
teresting expositions from the Commentaries 
she was reading, accompanied, in many cases, 
by practical reflections of her own upon the 
passage. 

After her conversion, it was interesting to 
observe to what extent, in these written exer- 
cises, intended for no eye but her own, her 
thoughts ran upon the great cardinal doctrines 
and principles of the Christian system, and 
with what clearness and comprehension her 
mind had already opened to receive them. 

It was also delightful to see the deep hold 
which these truths were taking upon her na- 
ture, and the intense interest she felt in them, 
as manifested in the brief ejaculations accom- 
panying these statements of doctrine, such as 
the following: "Lord, impress this truth upon 



MARY CLARISSA. 



97 



my heart," "May this principle abide with liv- 
ing power in my soul," &c, and in such expres- 
sions as these: "O, how beautiful," "How sub- 
lime," "How godlike," "How full of grace and 
love," &c, &c. 

Mary was also a dear lover of the public or- 
dinances of God's house. She could truly say 
with the Psalmist, "I was glad when they said 
unto me, Let us go into the house of the 
Lord," She never manifested any reluctance to 
attend the services of the sanctuary. On the 
contrary, she seemed to feel that the public 
services of God's house were essential to her 
spiritual life. Neither the inclemency of the 
weather, nor the bad condition of the roads, 
could keep her away from the church on Sab- 
bath. Not even her own health, unless she 
was actually prostrated by disease, was per- 
mitted to interfere. On every Sabbath, and at 
«very service she was present, not a listless, in- 
different hearer, but an attentive, thoughtful, 
devout worshipper, participating earnestly and 
prayerfully in the services. On her return to 
her home, she was accustomed to make a note 



98 MARY CLARISSA. 

in her memorandum-book of the text, and to 
write down for future reference the leading* 
points of the sermon, and such thoughts as 
had interested her most, together with a state- 
ment of her own impressions and feelings un- 
der the power of the truth. 

It is to be regretted that some samples of 
these notes cannot be furnished for our young 
readers, but they were written only for her own 
use, and on her death-bed she requested that 
they should all be destroyed, and her wishes 
were strictly complied with after her death. A 
clue to the character of these notes may, how- 
ever, be had in the following extract from a 
letter written to an aged and beloved relative 
only about two weeks before her death : 

"Papa preached on last Sabbath morning 
t 
from the text, 'For this corruptible must put 

on ^corruption, and this mortal must put on 

immortality.' It was very manifest to me that 

the subject had been suggested to him by per- 

mitting his thoughts to go out after my dear 

brother in his exalted and glorified state. It 

was a day of fat things to my soul. After 



MARY CLARISSA. 99 

speaking of the preciousness of the idea of a 
resurrection, and showing that it was, in the 
true Scripture sense of it, essentially a God- 
idea, in distinction from everything man could 
conceive of on such a subject, he gave a con- 
densed, terse, running argument, demonstrat- 
ing and vindicating the stupendous truth. He 
then stated that his main object in the selec- 
tion of his subject was to speak of the neces- 
sity for the change spoken of in the text, and 
what was implied in that change. I cannot, in 
the brief space left me, give you an adequate 
conception of the glorious ideas brought to 
view. It must suffice to tell you that death 
med to me divested of all its terrors, and I 
could see how indeed the day of one's death 
may be far better than the day of one's birth." 
TVho can read such expressions without feel- 
ing how great was the wisdom and grace it 1 
pleased our Heavenly Father to bestow upon 
this youthful disciple, and how rapidly, under 
the discipline of His Pr e and under the 

operation of His Holy Spirit, He was preparing 
her for the change which wa te. 



100 MARY CLARISSA. 

Another characteristic of Mary as a profes- 
sor of the religion of Jesus is found in her in- 
telligent and ardent attachment to the church 
of her fathers. 

It is not enough, as we have already inti- 
mated, to say of her that she was a consistent 
member of the church, yielding strict obedience 
to its laws, and abstaining from eveiwthing 
which could be regarded as a violation of its 
rules and obligations. Her instinctive sense of 
right, and her consciousness of the binding 
force of vows solemnly taken, would have kept 
her free from all censure, in any pure and ele- 
vated association into which she might have en- 
tered. Hers was not one of those natures 
which could take solemn vows at the commu- 
nion table, and then go out into society and 
wantonly trample upon them. From the day 
when she first gave herself in solemn covenant 
to God in the presence of His people, until the 
day of her death, no rej)roaeh rested upon her 
character as a follower of Christ. Surrounded 
by temptations, in the midst of worldly-minded 
companions, with every avenue to fashionable 



MARY CLARISSA. 101 

dissipation open to her, and the pecuniary 
means to gratify her every wish, she maintained 
the integrity of her christian character, the 
purity of her christian life, and the sanctity of 
her religious vows. 

But beyond all this, there was a devoted love 
to the church which kept her from feeling that 
there was any great cross in the observance of 
its rules. One of her favourite songs of praise, 
one that her voice would often be heard sing- 
ing in the stillness of the night, and hi the 
retirement of her chamber, was Dr. D wight's 
version of the 137th Psahn, beginning: 

"I love Thy kingdom, Lord, 
The house of Thine abode ; 
The church our blest Kedeemer saved 
With His own precious blood." 

And while she loved all who profess the name 
of Jesus, to whatever denomination the; 
longed ; and rejoiced in the welfare of every 
church in which the pure gospel of Christ is 
preached; she was especially and ardently de- 
voted to the Presbyterian church. Her s was 
not, however, that blind and unthinking alle- 



102 MARY CLARISSA. 

giance to a church which we sometimes see in 
those who know nothing of the doctrines for 
which they contend, and who, in their bigotry, 
are ready to unchurch others, while they know 
nothing of the foundations upon which their 
own church rests. Hers was an intelligent at- 
tachment, the result of a careful and prayerful 
examination of the doctrines and polity, the 
faith and order of the Presbyterian church. 

She had much indeed that might have led to 
such a blind and unintelligent acceptance of 
Presbyterian doctrine and discipline. As we 
have already said, her ancestors, from the very 
days of the Covenanters in Scotland, had all 
been Presbyterians, and every generation had 
been marked by men who stood high as minis- 
ters and ruling elders in the Presbyterian 
church. The daughter of a Presbyterian min- 
ister, having all her early associations con- 
nected with that church, it was natural that 
she should love it, and have a partiality for it, 
and become attached to its sublime teachings 
and simple solemn rites of worship. But her 
convictions rested upon a much deeper and 



MARY CLARISSA. 103 

broader basis than this. Dr. Kerr, in his in- 
tercourse with his children, was accustomed to 
guard them against everything like dogmatism 
in any department of truth, and especially in 
that of religious inquiry. He taught them 
never to be governed even by his most thor- 
oughly matured and sacredly cherished opin- 
ions, unless the reasons upon which these 
opinions were based appeared to them just and 
satisfactory. They were taught that their fac- 
ulties were given to them of God for the very 
purpose of thinking, and judging, and forming 
conclusions upon all these subjects, and that 
they would be held responsible to Him for any 
failure on their part to aim at unprejudiced 
and unbiassed truth. And while, therefore, in 
the double attitude of parent and pastor, he 
sought to instill into their minds the great 
truths that were drawn from, the word of God, 
he urged them to bring every doctrine to 
the touchstone of Scripture, to try it by '-the 
law and the testimony," and not to be con- 
tented until their faith rested upon higher and 



104: MARY CLARISSA. 

more impregnable evidence than the testimony 
of man. 

The result of this course was three-fold. 
First, it rendered them happy in their opinions 
and views. "When they embraced them, they 
embraced them cordially, as the result of their 
own investigations, and of the highest exercise 
of their enlightened reasons. Second, it made 
them firm and decided in their views uport 
every subject. They were always ready to give 
a reason for the hope that was in them, with 
meekness and with reverence. They held their 
opinions by no uncertain tenure, and they were 
guarded by thorough investigation against the 
insidious wiles of assaulting errorists. Third, 
they were guarded against all mere bigotry and 
intolerance. The study of different subjects, 
with the arguments on the one side and on the 
other, taught them the great lesson of the fal- 
hbility of the human understanding, and the 
possibility of great diversity of views on the 
part of good and wise men on the same sub- 
ject. They learned that great divergence of 
doctrine upon minor and non-essential points* 



MARY CLABISSA. 105 

was not at all incompatible with the life and 
power of religion in the soul, and that, there- 
fore, all uncharitableness toward fellow-chris- 
tians was to be avoided, not only as unworthy 
of the true spirit of Christianity, but as un- 
worthy of an enlightened mind. While, there- 
fore, Mary was a decided Presbyterian, because 
from investigation she was thoroughly con- 
vinced that Presbyterianism, both in its doc- 
trine and in its discipline, has the high sanc- 
tion and authority of God's holy word, she was 
far removed from everything like bigotry or 
censoriousness toward other christians. Satis- 
fied with " the goodness of the Lord's house, 
even of His holy temple," the language of her 
heart was, "Peace be within thy walls, and 
prosperity within thy palaces ; for my brethren 
and companions' sake I will now say, P 
within thee." 

Another characteristic of the religions lif 
this dear girl was the happy influence which 
religion exerted over her private and domestic 
life. 11 ^ within the retirement and privacy 
the domestic circle thai religion en- 



106 MARY CLARISSA. 

tlest and most hallowed power. Its graces are 
not so much like diamonds, that are fitted best 
to flash out their light in the pomp and page- 
antry of the court, or amidst the splendours of 
the festive hall, as they are like pure and mod- 
est pearls, whose chaste beauty fascinates the 
eye more and more as we quietly gaze upon 
them. A religion, therefore, whose power is 
not felt in the family circle, which does not 
give its refining and sanctifying influence to 
the ties that bind the inmates of the home to- 
gether, so as to make them more gentle, more 
loving, more forbearing, and more self-sacrific- 
ing toward one another, gives the very highest 
proof of its spuriousness and insincerity. 

In this aspect of a religious life, it is exceed- 
ingly interesting to read the many testimonials 
that have been given us as to the domestic life 
of Mary Kerr. We can only insert a few as 
illustrative of the blessed mission which for 
years she fulfilled in a household over which 
her removal cast a shadow whose lingering 
traces remain until this hour. 

Between Mary and her parents there existed 



MARY CLARISSA. 107 

relations of the tenderest intimacy and most 
endearing companionship. She entertained for 
them the profoundest reverence, and at the 
same time the deepest love ; so that, though 
their daily intercourse was of the most free 
and confiding character, there was never a word 
or act of her life toward them that savoured of 
impropriety, or of undue familiarity. Her bear- 
ing toward them was always that of an affec- 
tionate and dutiful child. To her mother, es- 
pecially, her devotion was truly wonderful. In 
those seasons of affliction which came one after 
another over the household, when the spirit of 
the mother was crushed and bleeding under 
the loss of dearly loved children, Mary seemed 
to feel that it was her special mission to soothe 
and cheer her mother's heart. Now lingering 
silently by her side, with her arm tenderly 
thrown about her neck ; now whispering in her 
ear some simple words of love or comfort ; now 
taking her Bible, and reading from it such pas- 
sages as were richest in tender consolation; 
now singing some hymn expressive of the con- 
fidence and hope of the children of Godj in 



108 MARY CLARISSA. 

every way indeed that her loving nature could 
devise, she sought to administer the balm of 
heavenly consolation to her mother's sorrowing 
heart. 

On one of these occasions, soon after the 
death of Hart, seeing her father sitting with 
his head bowed down, and tears streaming from 
his eyes, she came to him, and putting her 
hands upon his 'forehead, said tenderly : 

" Pa, how much happier do you think bro- 
ther is than he would be if he were here with 
us?" 

The father, looking up into her face, said : 

" Human arithmetic cannot solve that prob- 
lem, my child. This only I know, that he is 
as happy as the exceeding and eternal weight 
of God's glory can make him." 

"Then, Pa," said she, "ought we not to 
hold up our heads, and wipe away our tears." 

"I do not weep," said the father, "as those 
who have no hope, but I miss my dear boy so 
much that the tears come unbidden." 

"Yes, Pa," said she, "I miss him, too, more 
than words can tell, but then I feel so happy, 



MARY CLARISSA. 109 

and so thankful, to know that he . is safe in 
heaven." 

Then turning, and passing into an adjoining 
room, she sung, so as to be heard by her father, 
these two stanzas of an old familiar hymn : 

' ' When I can read my title clear 
i To mansions in the skies, 

I bid farewell to every fear 
And wipe my weeping eyes. 

' ' When I've been there ten thousand years, 
Bright shining as the sun, 
I've no less days to sing God's praise, 
Than when I first begun. " 

Could anything have been more considerate 
or thoughtful ; more exjoressive of the gentle- 
ness and tenderness of a loving nature; or 
more in accordance with the spirit of Him 
whose mission it is to "appoint unto them that 
mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for 
ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the gar- 
ment of praise for the spirit of heaviness 

Her brother and sisters, all of whom were 
younger than herself, were the objects at once 
of her tender solicitude and overflowing love. 

All her skill and taste were expended upoii 



HO MARY CLiRISSA. 

their persons, not in providing for them ex- 
travagant dress, and foolish and costly adorn 
inent, but in arranging their dress with a view 
to neatness and gentility of appearance. She 
embraced every opportunity to cultivate and 
improve their tastes and manners in society, 
teaching them to be always gentle, courteous 
and kind to those of their own age ; to avoid 
all harshness or rudeness in their intercourse 
with one another ; to cherish due respect and 
veneration for the aged; to bear themselves 
with becoming gravity and solemnity in the 
house of God ; and to strive to commend them- 
selves by gentleness, docility and true manli- 
ness of sphit to all with whom they were thrown 
into companionship. 

When any of the younger members of the 
family were sick, Mary was always by their bed- 
side, a patient, loving, unwearying nurse. When 
Hart was seized with the fearful epidemic that 
took his life, she instantly repaired to his bed- 
side, and through the long dreary hours of 
that night, in which the cholera was doing its 
fearful work, she could not be prevailed upon, 



MARY CLARISSA. HI 

even for a moment, to leave his bed-side. The 
physicians told her of the imminent peril to 
her own life if she remained. Her father, in 
his agony of spirit, entreated her not to en- 
danger the life that was so dear to him ; but 
love held her by the bed-side, and without the 
slightest apjjearance of trepidation or alarm, 
she continued her tender and thoughtful min- 
istry until the spirit had taken its flight. 

That winch most deeply interested her in 
reference to her brother and sisters was their 
religious welfare ; and it is interesting to see 
in how many ways she sought to commend to 
them the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ) 
and to impress their minds with religious 
things. 

Now she would propose to them a walk 
through the grove, and make every leaf and 
forest flower the means of leading their 
thoughts naturally and pleasantly upward to 
divine and heavenly things : now she would en- 
tertain them with simple but touching narra- 
tives from Scripture, told in her own impres- 
sive and forcible way. At one time it would 



112 MARY CLARISSA. 

be the story of Joseph; at another that of 
Moses ; at another the life of Samuel, or the 
stsning of Stephen, or the great meeting which 
Peter held in the house of Cornelius, when the 
gospel was first preached to the Gentiles, and 
when multitudes of heathen were converted to 
Christ. Then she would take, as her theme the 
life of Jesus, His death, resurrection and as- 
cension, the glory which He now has with the 
Father, His love of little children, His guardian 
care over them, and the beautiful home He has 
prepared for them. 

At another time, she would have some inter- 
esting narrative from history for them. She 
would tell them of the zeal and labours and 
sufferings of Martin Luther, or Calvin, or 
Knox, or Latimer, or Eogers, or some one of 
the old Reformers, grouping the facts of their 
history together in such a way as to present a 
vivid picture to the minds of her hearers : and 
often they would sit for an hour listening to 
these stories of eminent servants of God, who 
a were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that 
they might obtain a better resurrection ;" who 



MARY CLARISSA. H3 

"had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, 
yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments;" 
who "wandered in deserts and in mountains, 
in dens and in caves of the earth;" who were 
slain with the sword, and were burned at the 
stake, all for the testimony of Jesus. And 
while their young hearts glowed with the fire 
of enthusiasm, kindled by these recitals, she 
would seek to impress upon them some impor- 
tant principle or practical truth, which she de- 
duced from the narrative to which they had 
listened. 

At another time, she would engage them for 
an hour at a time at the piano, where she would 
lead them in singing, with the accompaniment 
of the instrument, the most select and precious 
hymns with which they were familiar, such as 
those beginning, "Jesus, lover of my soul," 
" I love thy kingdom, Lord," "Come, humble 
sinner, in whose breast," "How did my heart 
rejoice to hoar," "Rock of Ages, cleft for me," 
"How firm a foundation, ye saints of iho 
Lord," "Alas! and did my Saviour blood," 
&c, &c. 



114 MARY CLARISSA. 

To the children, these exercises were delight 
ful. They were always glad for the time to 
come when Sister Mary was ready to converse 
with them ; and whether she proposed to them 
a walk in the grove, or a seat upon the door- 
step, or a place at the piano, their gladness 
could be seen in their faces. 

The last thing which characterized Mary as a 
christian to which we shall call the attention of 
our readers, was her fearlessness of death. 
How many of God's children are all their life 
long "through fear of death subject to bond- 
age." How many there are who, while they 
give every other evidence of piety, are in con- 
tinual trepidation, lest when the time comes 
for the last great fearful conflict, they will be 
unprepared to meet it. Such was not the case 
with Mary Kerr. "We have seen the calmness 
with which she sat in the pestilential air of her 
brother's dying chamber, exposing her life with- 
out the slightest appearance of fear. This was 
not merely the result of excitement, overawing 
and banishing all thought of personal peril. 
She was often heard to say, when in perfect 



MARY CLARISSA. 115 

calmness of spirit and buoyancy of health, that 
she had not the slightest fear of death, that she 
" knew whom she had believed, and was per- 
suaded that He was able to keep that which 
she had committed unto Him against that day." 
And while this is true of her uniform christian 
experience, it is also true that there were times 
when she seemed with peculiar distinctness to 
"read her title clear to mansions in the sky." 
There were times when to her spiritual vision it 
was given to see " Salem's golden spires" rising 
in glorious prospect before her, times when 
like Bunyan's pilgrim she stood upon the Delec- 
table Mountains, and through the glass of 
faith looked over upon the domes and battle- 
ments of the celestial city. 

Only a day or two before her last illness, she 
wrote to a friend and relative as follows : " We 
have the cholera on our place, and several of 
the servants have died. I feel much uneasiness 
about the family, and especially about Papa. 
Pie is greatly exposed. He is constantly among 
the sick and the dying, and apparently without 
the slighest concern for himself. In regard to 



116 MARY CLARISSA. 

myself, I think I can safely say, 'I know in 
whom I have trusted ;' and if it should please 
God to call me suddenly away by this fearful 
pestilence, I trust I shall not be afraid to go." 

A few days afterwards a kind and tender re- 
sponse to this letter came ; it was opened and 
read by Mary's parents ; the call of her Hea- 
venly Father had already come, and the "fearful 
pestilence" of which she speaks, had been the 
swift-winged messenger to convey her to Him 
self. The manner in which she met the sum- 
mons was such as we might anticipate from 
what has been already written. As intimated 
in her letter, the cholera had been raging for 
some time on the plantation of her father 
among the servants. Eleven persons connected 
with the plantation had already died. At 
length Mary was seized with symptoms of the 
same terrible malady, and although everything 
was done for her that medical skill could sug- 
gest, or that loving hands could effect, she 
fell asleep in Jesus on the evening of the 14th 
of August, 1867. 

When the announcement was made to her of 



MARY CLARISSA. 117 

the near approach of the last enemy, she re- 
ceived the tidings, not only with perfect com- 
posure, but even with an expression of joy. 
Her face lighted up with a smile as she said : 
"All is well! I am happy! Sweet heaven 
You don't know how I love to say, Sweet hea- 
ven." Then she asked those around her to 
sing "Rock of Ages," "Jesus myall to hea- 
ven is gone," and other favourite hymns. At 
intervals she exclaimed several times, " Glory ! 
glory to God! Glory to God my Saviour!" 
" I am happy, oh how happy !" Meanwhile she 
was busy exhorting those around her to meet 
her in heaven, and sending similar messages to 
the absent ones ; and in this state of unclouded 
peace and rapturous triumph continued until 
her voice became too weak for utterance, and 
her eyes gently closed in the sleep of death. 

"Who can read the record of such a life, 
crowned with a death so triumphantly glorious, 
] not feel thatindced "the fear of the Lord is 
the beginning of wisdom." As we look back 
over the pure and unsullied life of this lovely, 
beautiful, accomplished girl, we feel that in- 



118 MARY CLARISSA. 

deed "a good name is better than precious 
ointment;" and as we look forward beyond this 
present life, a voice from heaven falls softly on 
our ear, saying, " Write, Blessed are the dead 
which die in the Lord from henceforth ! Yea, 
saith the Spirit, that they may rest froni their 
labours and their works do follow them L" 







AN APPEAL 

TO THH 



Baptized Children of the Church. 





"Ye aee THE CHILDREN of the Pro 
phets, and OF THE COVENANT which God 

MADE WITH OUR FATHERS, SAYING UNTO ABRAHAM, AND 

in thy Seed shall all the kindreds of the Earth 
be blessed. UNTO YOU FIRST, God haying 
raised up His Son Jesus, SENT HIM TO 
BLESS Y V, in turning away eyery one of 

YOU FROM HIS INIQUITIES." — Acts ill. 25, 26, 



TO THE BAPTIZED 

Children of the Church. 




T Dear Young Friends — These 
pages have been written espe- 
cially for you. The writer, 
*** who loves little children, has 
$|L thought that it would be pleasant 
to you to read the lives of these 
I bright and interesting children, who 
were taken away from tins world by death 
in their early youth, and who are now, as we 
confidently trust, among the number of the re- 
deemed ones in glory. He has hoped too that, 
w^hile you are reading these little sketches, and 
after you have laid them down, the Holy Spirit 
may incline your hearts to love the same Sa- 
viour whom these sainted children loved, to 
seek the same experience of His love which 
they had, and to be prepared by His grace for 
the same bright world to which they have gone. 

121 



122 TO THE BAPTIZED 

You have now read the story of their lives 
and deaths. Ton have looked ujdou the images 
of their young and pleasant faces. I do not 
feel that you are any longer strangers to me. 
Though I have never seen you. and may never 
see you in this world. I hope we are all going 
to that better land where we shall see eadi 
other, and know each other. 

And now I would like for a little while 
just to imagine that I have you gathered around 
ine. as the children of my own Sabbath school 
are accustomed to gather around me when we 
have our '-children's meetings"' on Sabbath af- 
ternoon. I would like to feel that you are 
looking ivp to me with your bright, sunny 
faces, ready to listen to all that I have to say. 

-"What is it then that I wish to say to you?"' 
Many things: and first of all: How very 
thankful you should he that you ewe among 
the number of the Children - of the Covenant. 
Do you ever think how different your circum- 
stances would have been, if you had been born. 
as so many children are. of heathen parents, in 
a pagan land, where there are no Bibles or 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 123 

Sabbath Schools, or Christian sanctuaries ; where 
the name of Jesus is never heard, and the chil- 
dren are taught to worship idols of wood and 
stone, instead of worshipping the true God? 
Do you ever think how different your condi- 
tion would be if your parents were, like many 
others that you know, irreligious and wicked, 
who never send their children to the Sabbath 
school, or teach them to pray and read God's 
Holy Word, but suffer them to spend the Sab- 
bath in wandering about the streets, and to 
learn from ungodly men to take God's sacred 
name in vain ! Oh ! my young friends, you can 
never be thankful enough for the priceless 
blessing of pious Christian parents. 

You should be thankful too that when your 
parents were converted to God, they chose for 
their church one which recognizes the covenant 
of God with His people as extending also to 
their children, so that little children like your- 
selves are entitled to membership in the church. 
Many churches around you do not admit that 
little children have any interest in the covenant 
of God with His people. Therefore they will 



121 TO THE BAPTIZED 

not administer baptism, which is the outward 
seal of the covenant, to little children. Al- 
though our Saviour expressly says : ;i Suffer 
the little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of hea- 
ven." and although the apostles, whenever they 
baptized a believer who was the head of a 
household, always baptized his household with 
him, these churches will not baptize little chil- 
dren, and teach that, until they are old enough 
to enter into covenant for themselves with 
God, they have no interest in His covenanted 
promises. 

Xow it is one of your great blessings that your 
parents do recognize this covenant relation. 
In token of then faith in it, when you were 
yet a little child, they took you to the house of 
God. and there had the seal of the covenant 
applied to you publicly, in presence of the 
whole congregation. "When you were baptized, 
this covenant of God with His people was so- 
lemnly ratified by your parents, and it is now 
your privilege to consider yourself, in a pecu- 
liar sense, one of the lambs of the Saviour's 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 125 

fold. His name is now upon yonr forehead. 
Your parents have solemnly dedicated you to 
Him. He has been pleased, according to His 
gracious promise, to receive you under His 
special guardianship and care. You are now 
for your parents' sake, and for His covenant's 
sake, one of the objects of His most tender 
interest and regard. However wayward you 
may be ; however forgetful of Him and of your 
duty to Him, the Great SheiDherd does not for- 
get you. He thinks of you as one of those 
given to Him in childhood, and He tenderly 
yearns over you, and longs for your return to 
His fold. 

This is what Peter meant, when, on the day 
of Pentecost, he addressed the Jews, who were, 
like you, the children of the covenant, and 
had, like you, received the seal of the covenant 
in infancy, and said to them, "Unto you first" — 
as those in whom He felt the deepest into 
tor whom He had the most anxious solicitude 
— "Unto yon first, God. haying raised up His 
son Jesus, sent Him to bless you. iu tin 
away every one of you from his iniquities." Is 



128 TO THE BAPTIZED 

it not a precious thought to you that, as one 
of the baptized children of the church, you are 
the Saviour's special care — that He feels in you 
a deeper interest than in those whose parents 
have never thus dedicated them to God, and 
claimed the promises of His covenant concern- 
ing them? 

As I am writing now for children, and not for 
grown persons, I may claim the privilege, which 
I always use in speaking to children, of allud- 
ing to incidents connected with my boyhood 
as illustrations of what I wish to say. One of 
these will help you to understand what I mean, 
when I say that your relation to the Saviour 
is a more precious one than that of other chil- 
dren who have never been baptized. 

Once, when a little fatherless boy, I was sent 
away from home by my mother, to attend a 
school in a distant village. Not far from the 
village lived a very wealthy gentleman, who 
was kind to all the children of the school, but 
did not seem to feel any special interest in 
them. Y/hen he learned that my mother had 
placed me there, he sent for me to come to his 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 127 

house, and after showing me many marks of 
kindness, when I went to leave his house, 
and return to the village, he took both of my 
hands in his, and said, " My boy, your father 
and I were intimate friends for many years be- 
fore his death. We had a mutual agreement, 
that if either of us needed any assistance, in 
money or in anything else, the other would be 
always ready to render it. Your father is no 
longer here, but I feel that he still lives in his son. 
The obligation is still upon me, and now I 
wish you to feel that, for your father's sake, I 
have a special interest in you, and you have a 
tender claim upon me. If you want anything 
at any time, remember my covenant with y< >ur 
father. Only let me know what you want, and 
I will be always ready to help you." 

Now, do you not see how different my rela- 
tions to tins covenanted friend of my father 
were from those of other boys around me, how 
much more interest lie had in me, and with 
how much more freedom I could go fco him, and 
ask him for anything thai I might want. Just 

so is it with this covenant between God and 



128 TO THE BAPTIZED 

your parents, dear child of the church. He 
has a special interest in you for- your parents' 
sake. He admits you to a special place in His 
compassionate regard, because of the covenant 
between your parents and Himself. You may 
therefore feel that you are nearer to Him ; you 
may go to Him with more freedom in prayer. 
You have special promises that you can plead. 
Like the Psalmist, you can not only say, " Oh, 
Lord, truly I am thy servant;" but you can also 
say, "I am thy servant, and the son of thine 
hand-maid." You can not only plead the pro- 
mises that are made to those who penitently 
turn to God, but you can plead the promises 
that are made to the children, and to the chil- 
dren's children, of " such as love Him and keep 
His commandments." 

Do not fail, then, to be thankful that you 
were dedicated to God in infancy by baptism ; 
that the seal of the covenant was placed upon 
you, and that you are now one of the baptized 
children of the church. Whenever you think 
of the fact that you are a baptized child of the 
church, let it encourage in you such thoughts 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 129 

as these : " The Lord Jesus feels a special in- 
terest in me. He loves me as one of the lambs 
of His fold. He seeks my love in return. 
Blessed Jesus! teach me to love Thee. Re- 
claim me from all my wanderings. Let me 
abide forever under thy gentle control — one of 
the sheep of thy pasture— one of the people of 
thy care." 

A second thought which I wish to urge upon 
you, dear children, is that it is a very simple 
thing to be a christian — so simple that the 
little child need not wait to grow older to be- 
come one. We have seen that little Sallie 
Kerr gave every evidence of being truly con- 
verted when only six or seven years of age. 
Now, my young readers must not suppose that 
Sallie was so different by nature from other 
children, that what was possible for her would 
be impossible for them. She had the same in- 
firmities and temptations with other children. 
There was in her by nature the "same evil 
heart of unbelief in departing from the living 
God." She had, therefore, the same difficulties 
that yon have to overcome. And yet, ataa 



130 TO THE BAPTIZED 

earlier than that to which most of you have at- 
tained, she was already a christian, rejoicing in 
the hope of pardon and acceptance through 
Christ. Do you ask me why this was ? My 
dear young Mends, it was simply because she 
had been brought to feel how sinful her heart 
was. and how much she needed to be pardoned 
■and cleansed by the blessed Saviour, to put 
"her trust in Him. and look to Him to make 
her holy, and prepare her for heaven. Feeling 
that she could never be good, or go to heaven 
of herself, she asked Jesus to take her as one 
of His redeemed children ; and having His pro- 
mise that ••' whosoever asketh receive th," she 
trusted in Him. and was happy in the assu- 
rance that He would save the soul which she 
"had committed to Him. Cannot you also do 
this ! To be a christian is only to torn with 
all your heart to Jesus as the great Saviour, 
and trust in Him for pardon and grace, and all 
that you need. It is just to put your hand in 
His. and let Him lead you and support you 
and help you until He brings you safely to His 
home above. 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 131 

Let me tell you another little story of my 
boyhood to illustrate this. Shortly after the 
incident to which I have already alluded, I was 
taken away from the village school, and sent to 
a school in the country near my home. This 
school was taught by a lady, and all the 
scholars were girls, except myself, and one 
little boy, scarcely large enough to go to 
school. I was sent more as a protector for my 
sisters, w T ho were younger than myself, than 
for any other reason ; for the walk to the school- 
house was a very long one, and a part of it very 
gloomy and difficult, and they needed some 
one older than themselves to assist them, and 
keep them from being afraid. 

At one point, not far from the school-house, 
was a little stream winch most of the scholars 
had to cross, and winch was often greatly 
swollen by sudden rains. At these times the 
foot logs would be all covered, and we would 
have to go further up the stream to a point 
where the banks were higher, and where a log 
had been thrown across the stream that the 
water could not overllow. This log, though, 



132 TO THE BAPTIZED 

was not hewn, nor provided with railings, like 
the foot-log, on the road ; and as it was small, 
and. the surface of it slippery from the recent 
rains, it was a very difficult matter for the chil- 
dren to walk over on it. The water rashing 
swiftly under it made the unsteady footing 
seem still more treacherous, and there was only 
one way in which the crossing could be safely 
made. Being the only boy in the crowd, and 
feeling that it devolved on me to provide for 
the safe crossing of all the girls, I was accus- 
tomed to roll up my pants, and taking a firm 
staff in one hand, wade out into the water by 
the side of the log and hold on to the 
hands of the girls, and support and steady 
them as they walked along. As I had fre- 
quently to play ferryman in this way, there was 
one thing which made a peculiar impression 
upon me. I always noticed that the younger 
the children were, the less difficulty I had in 
persuading them to cross over with my help. 
The little ones, whose hearts had been full of 
dismay when they first looked at the treach- 
erous crossing and the rashing waters, so sood 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 133 

as I had taken my place in the stream, and held 
forth my hand to them, telling them not to be 
afraid, for I would hold them, and not let them 
fall, would come at once, saying : " I'm not afraid ; 
you won't let me fall, will you?" and would 
soon be on the other side, all safe and happy. 
The older ones would hesitate for a long time, 
and come at last with great trepidation, and 
sometimes it would be necessary to take hold 
of their hands violently, and almost force them 
to make the crossing. 

I have often thought since of this little 
stream, with its narrow and difficult crossing. 
Between us and our home in heaven lies the 
deep and turbid stream of sin and temptation. 
We have no means of crossing it ourselves, but 
Jesus has thrown over it the bridge of Hi 
demption. We must walk upon this ero 
or we can never enter heaven. We must have 
the righteousness of Jesus, Ills atonement, 
obedience, His Spirit. All these lie offer 
us freely, and yet, if we were 1* H to ourselves, 

we would be like the children a1 the crossing. 

We would be thinking of the greatness o( our 



134 TO THE BAPTIZED 

sin, the power of temptation, the weakness of 
our hearts, and we would have no courage to ven- 
ture upon the mercy and grace of God in Christ. 
But Jesus has not left us thus to ourselves.. 
Having completed His work of salvation, He 
is still in spirit present with us. He stands, so 
to speak, in the midst of the turbid waters of 
our guilt and sin. He holds out His hand to 
us. He says to us, " Be not afraid, only be- 
lieve ; only trust in me, I will not let you perish ; 
I will save you." Dear children, what an easy 
thing it is just to put your hand, as it were, 
into the hand of Jesus ; just to say : " Precious 
. Saviour, I give myself to Thee, for Thou wilt 
save me." 

Do you feel a desire to love and serve this 
precious Saviour, and to trust in Him for sal- 
vation? Then go to Him at once in prayer, 
and give your heart to Him. Remember the 
words of the beautiful hymn which you often 
sing in the Sabbath-school, 

' 1 I'm but a child, a little child, 
Yet Jesus died for me, 
And through His blood, His precious blood 
I shall from sin be free. " 



CfllLDREN OF THE CHURCH. 135 

Do not think for a moment of waiting until 
you are older. Remember what I told you 
about the children at the crossing — how the 
little ones seemed to have so much less trouble 
than those that were older. It is just so with 
the decision of this great question of salvation. 
It will never be easier than it is now for you 
to become a clnistian. On the contrary, all 
the difficulties will increase as you grow older. 
When we have a revival of religion in one of 
our churches, every pastor knows how much 
more readily the young are induced to give up 
their hearts to the Saviour than those of ma- 
turer age. When the Holy Spirit to 

move upon the hearts of the very young, thej 
are soon persuaded, and enabled by Him to em- 
brace Jesus Christ as He is freely offered to 
them in the gospel. Their hearts s<><m expe- 
rience the fulfilment of the precious promise 
"They that seek Me early shall find Me." They 
are soon rejoicing in the love of the blesck 1 
Saviour, and the hope of salvation through 
Him, while older persons, awakened to deep 
conviction of their sinfulness, find their mil 



136 TO THE BAPTIZED 

and hearts full of doubt and perplexity, and 
often go for months, and even years, bowed 
down under a weight of anxiety and despond- 
ency, before they can be brought to exercise a 
simple childlike faith in Christ. 

Have you ever noticed, my young friends, 
how few persons are converted after they attain 
to manhood and womanhood ; how few old per- 
sons become christians, and unite with the 
church ? Have you ever thought in how many 
eases the Holy Spirit, who had moved upon 
their hearts in childhood, as He is now moving 
upon yours, after they had long refused to give 
their hearts to Jesus, became wearied and 
grieved, and ceased to move upon their hearts 
any more ? Do you ever think that if you re- 
fuse to become christians in childhood, if you 
postpone this matter to some future time, He 
may also forsake you, and cease to invite you, 
and warn you to come to Christ? Oh, do not, 
then, for any consideration, put off until you 
are older the subject of religion. God requires 
you to come now and be saved. Jesus invites 
you to come now. The Holy Spirit urges you 



CHILDREN OF Till. CHURCH. 1 : J 7 

to come now. Your conscience tells you to 
come now. It is only Satan that bids you wait 
until you grow older. You have fewer difficul- 
ties in your way now than you will have then. 
You have more encouragement now than you 
will have then. This is the most favourable 
moment you will ever find in which to come to 
Jesus. 

11 Youth is the most accepted time 
To love and serve the Lord ; 
A flower presented in its prime 
Will much delight afford. 

Give Him the morning of your days 
And be forever blest, 
"lis none but those in wisdom's ways 
Enjoy substantial rest. " 

I have one tiling more wliich I wish to say 
to you, dear children, and then my task in the 
preparation of this little volume will be done 
I wish to urge upon you that you cherish an 

INTELLIGENT AND DEVOTED LOVE FOB THE OHUBCH 

of Youn fathers. (I speak now particularly to 
those whose parents arc members of the Pres- 
byterian Church, since it is chiefly into their 

hands this little volume Will fall.) Y<m have 



138 TO THE BAPTIZED 

seen the ardent attachment of Hart and Mary 
to the church in which they were born, their 
eagerness to become fully acquainted with its 
doctrines and principles, and their readiness at 
all times to vindicate the principles of Presby- 
terianism, whenever and by whomsoever as- 
sailed. This was not a blind or bigoted attach- 
ment, in so far as we are able to judge. It was,, 
on the contrary, an enlightened conviction 
of the truth of the system which they es- 
poused ; a conviction based upon a careful study 
of the word of God. They read the Scriptures, 
and read judiciously written books, that they 
might know the true principles of church gov- 
ernment, and compare the creed of their fathers 
with the Scriptures of Eternal truth. 

Such is the attachment which I wish you to 
have for Presbyterianism, and for the Presbyte- 
rian Church. No one despises bigotry or secta- 
rianism more than I do. "When I hear a mem- 
ber of one denomination of Christians assert- 
ing that his is the only true church, and that all 
others are mere societies outside of the visible 
body of Christ, I feel a kind of pity for him. 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 139 

not altogether free from contempt. I think I 
have the same kind of feeling that Paul had for 
the same class of persons in his day. For you 
must remember that there were high-church- 
men in the days of Paul as well as now. In 
Philippi, for instance, there was a body of men 
in the church who separated themselves from 
the rest of the brethren, and claimed to be the 
true church. They boasted of their regular 
line of succession through apostles and prophets 
from Abraham. As circumcision was the ordi- 
nance through which they held that the suc- 
cession was orderly transmitted, they were ac- 
customed to dignify themselves with the title of 
The Circumcision, and all who refused to ac- 
knowledge their claims, and receive the ordi- 
nances at their hands, they called The Vn< ik- 
esioNj iind refused to have fellowship with 
them, declaring that they were not memtx 
the visible church of Christ, and, it' saved at all, 
must be saved through the uncovenanted mer- 
cies of God. 

Now, Paul writes a letter to the Philippian 

Chris! Jans, and instead of i . I Ik B6 



140 TO THE B APT i ZED 

zealous advocates of circumcision as the true 
church, he sets aside their claims altogether, 
find recognizing those as the true Israel who 
worshipped God in the spirit, and put no con- 
fidence in outward ordinances, he admonishes 
them to beware of these high-churchmen. He 
does not dignify them with the title they have 
arrogated to themselves. He does not call 
them The Circumcision, but, by way of ex- 
pressing his contempt for bigotry and arro- 
gance, he calls them The Concision. " Beware 
of the concision," (Phil. hi. 2.) 

Paul then tells us in the next verse whom we 
are to consider as belonging to the true church. 
"We are the circumcision, (that which these 
men claim to be,) which worship God in the 
Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have 
•no confidence in the flesh." That is to be con- 
sidered a part of the true church of Christ, not; 
in which some outward ordinance is adminis- 
tered after a particular mode, but in which 
God is worshipped in spirit, Christ is held 
forth as He is revealed in the gospel, and no 



CHLDREN OF THE CHURCH. J 41 

confidence is placed in outward rites, or cere- 
monial observances. 

It is this Scriptural view of the true church 
which I would have you take, so that you may 
be ready to recognize as your brethren in Christ, 
all members of evangelical churches, whether 
they are called Methodists or Baptists, Episco- 
palians or Presbyterians ; whether they are 
Calvinists or Arminians, Lutherans or Re- 
formed. Never be found among the number of 
the concision — those who will not recognize 
their brethren of other evangelical churches; 
who will not have fellowship with a man be- 
cause he is not of their particular creed. And 
if at any time you hear one of your companions 
saying that his church is the only true church, 
and all others are only sects, just set him down 
as being one of the concision^ and do as Paul 
says, beware of him : let him alone. It will 
do no good to argue with him. You can never 
reason a man out of arrogance and conceit 
The more you argue with him, the more you 
pamper his pride, and nourish his self-conceit 
The best thing yon can do tor him, is t<> pify 



142 TO THE BAPTIZED 

him as one of the concision, and let him 
alone. 

It is a pleasant thing to know that there are 
but few of this class in any branch of the 
church. The most of our brethren, whatever 
they call themselves, Methodists, Baptists or 
Episcopalians, while they have a proper prefer- 
ence for their own church, make no invidious 
distinctions between themselves and us, but ac- 
cord to us the right to be numbered among the 
members of the visible body of Christ. Let me 
entreat you always to cultivate such a spirit of 
charity towards christians of other denomina- 
tions as shall lead you to rejoice in their pros- 
perity, and to say with the apostle, " Grace be 
upon all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ 
in sincerity." 

But while you cherish a kindly spirit towards 
all other branches of the church, and guard 
yourselves against all sectarianism and bigotry, 
cultivate always a special devotion to the church 
of your choice. Be decided and frank in your 
attachment to Presbyterianism. Let others 
around you see that while you cheerfully ac- 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 143 

cord to them the right to think differently from 
you, you rejoice in the fact that you are Pres- 
byterians. Let them see that you love the 
faith and order of the Presbyterian Church, 
that its doctrines and polity, its history and 
memories are all dear to your heart. 

That you may do this intelligently, let me 
say to you that the Presbyterian Church, with 
which your parents are connected, is, in its es- 
sential principles, the same that has existed, not 
only from the days of the apostles, but from 
the days of Abraham until now. I say in its 
essential principles, because, in points that are 
not essential, it has undergone many changes 
since Abraham's day; but from the time when 
it was first planted in the family of Abraham 
until now, the church, in its purest form, lias 
always been Presbyterian. That it was bo bo- 
fore the days of Abraham, we may safely con- 
clude from the fact that it has been BO Since, 

although we have no definite information in re- 
ference to the form of the church before the 

calling of Abraham. When it was distinctly 
set Up in visible form in tlic household of Abr.-v- 



144 TO THE BAPTIZED 

ham, it was a Presbyterian Church. It con- 
tinued to be such under the ministry of Christ 
and his apostles ; and after the close of the pe- 
riod of inspiration, the purer part of the church 
of Christ continued through all the darkness of 
the middle ages to be Presbyterian, and to-day 
the great majority of those churches which are 
Evangelical, hold essentially to the faith and 
order of the Presbyterian Church. 

These things may seem strange to many of 
you, because you have never given them serious 
attention, and therefore I ask you to follow me 
attentively for a little while, that I may show 
you that the church of God, as it existed in 
the days of Abraham, and in the days of the 
apostles, was essentially Presbyterian. 

To do this we must first determine in our 
minds the question, what is a Presbyterian 
Church? To this I answer: It is a church 
whose government is vested, as its name im- 
plies, in Presbyteries, or bodies of Elders. 
The word Presbyter means Elder, and any 
church which is governed exclusively by a body 
of Presbyters, or Elders, is, in this general 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 145 

sense, a Presbyterian Church. It is a church, 
which has no Bishops or Archbishops, in the 
sense in which these words are now employed 
by prelatical churches. Its ministers are all of 
the same rank and authority. They bear rule 
jointly, and not in subordination to one an- 
other. 

To complete the idea of a Presbyterian 
Church, however, as it was originally instituted, 
and as it continues to exist, it is necessary that 
there shall be two kinds of Presbyters, or El- 
ders. There are first the Ministers of the Gos- 
pel, who are sometimes called Teaching Elders, 
because they both rule and teach, or pi 
the gospel. Then there are the Elders cl 
from among the people, and ordained to take 
part wit! 1 the ministers in the government of 
the church. These are generally called Ruling 
Elders. That a church shall be Presbyterian, 
therefore, it is necessary that it shall be gov- 
erned by these two kinds of Elders — Minister- 
ing Elders, and Ruling Elders — and shall have 
no other rulers in it, The Deacons in the 

Presbyterian Church are not rulers. They 



116 TO THE BAPTIZED 

have no authority in the government of the 
Church. They are only appointed to take care 
of its temporal interests. 

Not only must a Presbyterian Church be 
governed exclusively by Elders ; it is also es- 
sential that these Elders shall rule jointly, and 
not singly. They must net each one govern a 
particular part of the church, by his own inde- 
pendent authority; but they must govern 
through church courts, in which a greater or 
less number of them meet together, and delib- 
erate, and decide ujpon questions of govern- 
ment. And these church courts must be so re- 
lated to each other, that a question of discip- 
line may be carried by appeal, or complaint, 
from a lower court to a higher one, represent- 
ing a larger number of congregations, so that 
every part of the church shall, through these 
subordinated courts, be brought ultimately un- 
der the supervision and control of the whole. 

In our own church, you know, we have first 
the Church Session, which is a court composed 
of the Pastor and Ruling Elders of a particu- 
lar congregation. Then we have the Presby- 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 147 

tery, composed of all the Ministers of a parti- 
cular section of country, with a Ruling Elder 
from each church, in the same. Then we have 
the Synod, composed of the Ministers and rep- 
resentatives of the churches in a larger section 
of country, comprising at least three Presby- 
teries. Then we have, lastly, the General As- 
sembly, which is the highest court of all. 

It is not necessary, in order that a church 
shall be Presbyterian, that it have precisely the 
same number of courts, or that they be called 
by precisely the same names. Many of the 
Reformed churches have what they callclassi * 3 
which correspond to our Presbyteries, and a 
General Synod, instead of our General As 
bly. The principle, however, is the same, 
namely, that the whole government of the 
Church is committed to courts composed of of- 
ficers, who belong exclusively to the two classes 
of Ruling Elders and Teaching Elders; and 

that these courts sustain Such a relation to cadi 
other, that the authority of a higher court is 
binding upon the lower ones, and thus, through 
them, the whole chinch is united togeth< r. 



14rS TO THE BAPTIZED 

Now, this being the essential principle of 

Presbyterianism. it will not be difficult to show 
that the true church of God, in all the ages of 
the world, where it has been free from hiirnan 
innoyations, has been essentially Presbyterian. 
Let us look first at the church of God under 
the Old Testament economy. The earliest re- 
cord which we haye of its permanent, visible 
organization, is that which is contained in the 
history of the calling of Abraham, and the con- 
stitution of a church within his house. This is 
the origin of the Jewish Church, which, for 
ages, was composed of the "seed of faithful 
Abraham." Now, let us ask the question: 
"What officers were appointed in this risible 
church ? The only officers we read of are the El- 
ders of Abraham's house. One of these is dis- 
tinctly mentioned (Gen. 24 : 2,) as the servant 
and Elder of his house, (not the eldest servant, 
as it is translated in our version, but the ser- 
vant and Elder.) "We hear but little of these 
Elders during the lifetime of Abraham, as we 
hear but little of the constitution of the church; 
but afterwards they appear as distinctly recog- 



CHILDREN OF TUB CHURCH. 149 

nized officers of the house of God. Thus, 
when Moses was sent as the ieliverer of God's 
people from the bondage of Egypt, he was di- 
rected (Ex. 3: 16,) to go and gather the "El- 
ders of Israel" together, and deliver his mes- 
sage to them, as the divinely appointed rulers 
of the congregation. When he was sent to de- 
mand of Pharaoh the release of the children of 
Israel, he was instructed to take with him (Ex. 
3: 18,) the "Elders of Israel," as the represen- 
tatives of the chosen people. When in the 
wilderness Moses received the Law from the 
hands of Jehovah, on Mount Sinai, he wrote 
it, and delivered it to the priests, the sons of 
Levi, and the Elders (Deut. 31 : 9) as the sjn- 
ritual rulers of God's people. And so in every 
instance in which any authority is exercised, or 
any discipline administered, we find these A7- 
ders referred to as the rulers hi the Church. 
They are sometimes called "the Elders," some- 
times "the Elders of Israel;" sometimes " the 
Elders of the congregation;" sometimes "the 
Elders of the people," but fchey appear on every 



150 TO THE BAPTIZED 

page of the history of the Jewish church, as 
its divinely appointed and recognized rulers. 

The term Elder was not one simply of se- 
niority, or of respect, as some have supposed. 
There were many Elders in age, who were not 
Elders in office. The term Elder implied of- 
ficial rank and position. Thus, when the Lord 
directed Moses to select out of the Elders of 
the tribes, seventy, who should constitute the 
highest council of the church, or, as we might 
say, its General Assembly, he instructed him 
(Numb. 11: 16,) to choose only those whom he 
certainly knew to be "Elders of the people, and 
officers over them." 

The Jewish Church was, therefore, governed 
by Elders in the days of Moses. .It was so in 
the days of Joshua, when there were Elders in 
every city, (Josh. 7: 6; 20 : 4; 24: 31, &c.,) and 
in the days of the Judges, (Judges 2 : 7 ; 8 : 16; 
Ruth 4: 2, &c.,) and in the days of Samuel, 
(1 Sam. 15: 30; 16: 4; &c.,) and in the days of 
David, (2 Sam. 5:3; 17: 4, &c.,) and in the 
days of Elijah, and Elisha, (1 Kings 21 : 11 ; 2 
Kings 6 : 32, &c.,) and in the days of Ezekiel, 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 151 

(Ezek. 14: 1; 20: 1, &c.,) and in the days of 
Ezra, when the Old Testament canon was com- 
pleted, (Ezra 10: 14, &c.,) and in the days when 
our Saviour appeared in the world, (Matt. 21 : 
23; 27: 1; Mark 8: 31; Luke 22: 52, &c.) 

It is sometimes asserted that these Elders 
were only civil rulers, and not ecclesiastical ; 
that they were officers of the State, and not of 
the Church ; that in the Jewish commonwealth 
the priests had the exclusive authority in spi- 
ritual matters, and the Elders in secular mat- 
ters. But, so far is this from being* the case,, 
that, as we shall soon see, the priests them- 
selves, ruled, not as priests, but as Elders, and 
in every act of government were associated 
with the " Elders of the people ;" wliile the 
Council of the Seventy, or the Sanhedrim^ as 
it was afterwards called, Avas composed entirely 
of Elders, chosen from the different tribes of 
Israel It is true, that these Elders had many 
civil duties to perform, because at that time 

the Church and State were temporarily united. 
Put their functions as civil officers, resulting 
from this temporary connection, were only in 



152 TO THE BAPTIZED 

cidental and temporary. Their highest func- 
tions were spiritual. They were pre-eminently 
ecclesiastical rulers. They had charge of all 
the interests of the " church of God, which was 
in the wilderness with the Angel which spake 
to Moses in the Mount Sinai." The fact that 
they had civil duties to perform, and secular 
questions to decide, no more proves that they 
were not church officers, than does the sitting 
of the Bishops of the Established Church of 
England in the House of Lords prove that 
they are not church officers. 

In this sense, therefore, we may certainly say 
that the Old Testament Church was Presbyte- 
rian, inasmuch as its whole government was 
administered by Elders, chosen from among 
the people, and set apart to the office of rulers 
over the house of God. It was also Presbyte- 
rian in a second sense, and a very important 
one, namely, that these Elders were of two dis- 
tinct kinds, Elders of the priests, and Elders 
of the people. This appears very clearly in 
the composition of the Sanhedrim, or highest 
council of the Jews. This body consisted ex- 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 153 

clusively of Elders. (Numb. 11 : 16.) These 
seventy Elders were chosen from "all the tribes 
of Israel." Those, therefore, from the tribe of 
Levi were, of course, of the priestly office. 
They were, therefore, both Elders and Priests, 
adding to their functions as rulers, those of min- 
isters before the altars in the Tabernacle. To 
distinguish them from those Elders who were 
taken from the other tribes, they were called 
Priest Elders, or Elders of the Priests (2 Kings 
19: 2; Is. 37: 2, &c.,) and afterwards Chief 
Priests, one being taken, in later days, from 
each of the twenty-four courses of priests in 
the Temple. "We have, therefore, the two kinds 
of Elders, called in the Old Testament, " El- 
ders of the Priests," and "Elders of the Peo- 
ple," constituting together the "Elders of the 
Congregation," or the "Elders of Israel," 
called in the New Testament " the Chief Priests 
and Elders of the people." 

Here, therefore, you have, under the Old 
Economy, two kinds of Elders, precisely cor- 
responding to the two kinds in the Presbyte- 
rian Church at the present day. You have the 



1 54 TO THE BAPTIZED 

Elders of the people, who are chosen simply to 
rule, like our Ruling Elders ; and you have the 
Elders of the Priests, who, in addition to their 
functions as rulers, have the higher and holier 
ones of administering before God in sacred 
tilings, as do the ministers of the gospel at the 
present day. 

The identity of the two forms of government 
becomes still more apparent when you consi- 
der that, under the Old Economy, the Elders 
of Israel ruled, not singly, but jointly, in regu- 
larly organized church courts. No officer in 
the Jewish church had any such individual au- 
thority as that now exercised by a Bishop in 
the Episcopal Diocese, or a Presiding Elder in 
a Methodist District. In every city of the 
tribes there was a "Bench of Elders," which 
held its sessions in the gate of the city ; and to 
this court of Elders all questions of gov- 
ernment in the district were submitted. In 
the smaller cities, this court corresponded to 
our Presbyterian Church Sessions ; in the larger 
to our Presbytery. There was another court, 
as we learn from Jewish writers, composed of 



CIIILDKEN OF THE CHURCH. 155 

not less than twenty-three Elders, to which ap- 
peals could be made from the decision of the 
"Elders of the Gates," and which correspond 
hi this respect to our Synod; while above all 
these was the Sanhedrim, or highest court of 
ajDpeal, corresponding to our General Assembly. 
Having thus seen that the Church, under the 
Old Economy, was essentially Presbyterian, let 
us see if it remained so after the coming ot 
Christ. In order to understand this more 
clearly, we must look for a moment at some 
changes that had taken place during the 
tivity of the Jews in Babylon, and after their 
return. As, during the period of captivity, the 
Jews were cut off from all the privileges of the 
temple service, they had instituted — no doubt 
by divine direction — the system of synagogue 
worship; and as. after their return, there were 
great obstacles in the way of their attendance 
upon the annual Feasts at Jerusalem, this 
tem was si ill continued. In every city the El- 
ders caused a house of worship to be erected, 
which was culled ;i synagogue, or pta 
semblage. There, on every Sabbath day. • 



156 TO THE BAPTIZED 

collected the people for religions worship. They 
were known as the Elders, or Rulers of the 
Synagogue. They had one of their number, 
who usually conducted public worship, and was 
called the Angel, or Messenger of the syna- 
gogue, because he read, or delivered God's 
message to the people. The services on Sab- 
bath consisted of prayer, the singing of psalms 
and hymns, the reading of the Scriptures, ex- 
hortations, and collections of alms for the poor. 
"When our Saviour appeared, therefore, He 
found, in every city of the Jews, a synagogue, 
with its bench of Elders, its ordinances of wor- 
ship, and its provisions for the poor, as we have 
them in our congregations at the present day. 
When He went from city to city, He entered 
into their synagogues on the Sabbath day, and 
taught the people. He instructed his disciples 
to submit questions of discipline to the Church ; 
that is, to these officers, who were its represen- 
tatives. It is true that these church-sessions, 
if I may so call them, did not recognize, in 
most instances, the authority of our Saviour. 
''He came to His own, and His own received 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. J 5 7 

Him not." The Elders joined with the Scribes 
and the Priests in putting him to death. But 
after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, on the 
day of Pentecost, there were many of these 
Jewish congregations, in which great numbers 
were converted to Christianity, so that the con- 
gregation was, in faith, no longer Jewish, but 
Christian. In these cases the synagogue be- 
came a church edifice. The Elders of the 
synagogue became Elders of the Christian 
Church. The rite of Baptism took the place of 
the rite of Circumcision. The Lord's Supper 
came in the room of the Passover. The 
day of the week took the place of the Jewish 
Sabbath. Hymns to Christ as God mingled 
with the old synagogue anthems to Jehovah. 
The epistles of inspired Apostles were read 
along with the Old Testament Scriptures; and 
thus, by a transition as natural as it was im] 
rive, the Jewish church became Christian, with 
all its essential features unchanged. 

That this is no mere theory, or special pi 
bog on the pari of the advocates of Preebyte- 
nanism, will be evident to every attentive reader 



158 • TO THE BAPTIZED 

of the following extracts from the works of one 
of the most learned and eminent prelates of 
the Episcopal Church. The late Archbishop 
"Whately, of Dublin, as distinguished for his 
learning as for his integrity and piety, in his 
work, entitled "The Kingdom of Cheist Delin- 
eated, in which he traces the origin of the first 
Christian churches planted by apostolic hands, 
uses the following langauge. (See Ed. of Car- 
ter & Bros., New York, 1864, p. 29.) 

"It appears highly probable — I might say 
morally certain — that wherever a Jewish syna- 
gogue existed, that was brought, the whole or 
the chief part of it, to embrace the gospel, the 
Apostles did not there so much form a Chris- 
tian church (or congregation: Ecclesia.) as 
make an existing congregation Christian" (the 
italics are his own,) "by introducing the Chris- 
tian sacraments and worship, and establishing 
whatever regulations were requisite for the 
newly adopted faith, leaving the machinery (if 
I may so speak,) of government unchanged; 
the rulers of synagogues, elders and other of- 
ficers, (whether spiritual or ecclesiastical, or 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 159 

both,) being already provided in the existing 
institutions." "And," he continues, "it is likely 
that several of the earliest Christian churches 
did originate in this way; that is, that they 
were converted synagogues, which became 
Christian churches as soon as the members, or 
the main part of the members, acknowledged 
Jesus as the Messiah. * * * And when 
they founded a church in any of those cities in 
which (and such were probably a very large 
majority,) there was no Jewish synagogue that 
received the gospel, it is likely that they would 
conform, in a great measure, to the same 
model." 

Here, then, is a statement from one of the 
highest functionaries, and most learned writers 
of the Episcopal Church, that the primitive 
Church was built upon the model of the Jewish 
synagogue, the government of which, as we 
have already seen, was distinctively Presbyte- 
rian, A careful study of the Acts and Epistles 

will lead us also to the conclusion that the 
Church of the Apostles was essentially Pres- 
byterian. On their missionary voyages they 



160 TO THE BAPTIZED 

"ordained Elders in every city." As in many 
of these cities there was only a small congrega- 
tion of believers, the Elders ordained in them 
must have been Ruling Elders, as the language 
implies that there were several in one city. 
These Elders ruled in councils, or courts, that 
were distinctly Presbyterian. Timothy was or- 
dained by "the laying on of the hands of the 
Presbytery." The Synod which met at Jer- 
usalem, (Acts, chap. 15.) was a Synod com- 
posed of the Apostles and Elders. 

Even the Apostles sat in these councils as 
Elders. They constantly recognize themselves 
as such. "The Elders which are among you 
I exhort, who am also an Elder." (1 Pet. 5:1.) 
"The Elder unto the well beloved Gains. ''(3 John 
1.) The office of Apostle was extraordinary 
and temporary. The office of Elder was es- 
sential and permanent. Hence, they speak 
of themselves as Elders; partakers of that sa- 
cred office and authority which ever abide in 
the Church. 

The only officers of the Xew Testament 
Church who had authority to rule, were the 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 161 

Elders. Under this generic title all the spirit- 
ual rulers of the church are arranged. Apos- 
tles, Evangelists, Bishojos : all are Elders. An 
Elder who, like Peter, is also a divinely commis- 
sioned "witness of the sufferings of Christ. 'is 
an Apostle. An Elder who, like Titus, is sent 
forth with a divine commission to organize 
churches and ordain Elders, hi every city, is 
an Evangelist. An Elder to whom is commit 
ted the oversight of a particular congregation, 
is a Bishop. Those Elders who are ordained 
simply to take part in the government of the 
Church, are Ruling Elders. Those Elders who, 
in addition to this function of ruling, have the 
high duty devolved upon them to preach the 
gospel are Ministers of the Gospel. Thus it is 
that, in the New Testament, as in the Old, the 
Presbyter or Elder appears as the essential of- 
ficer in the church ; and the two classes of El- 
ders, "Eldersthal rale," and " Elders thai both 
rule and labour in the word and doctrine," 
eome clearly into view. As in the Jewish 
Church, so in the Apostolic Church we have 
MinisU r Eld rs, and Pecph Elders: Elders 



162 TO THE BAPTIZED 

consecrated to the ministry, and Elders en- 
gaged in secular callings ; these two kinds of 
Elders, meeting together in church courts, and 
by their joint authority, ruling and governing 
the Church. 

It would be easy, if there were time, to show 
that the Elders were the highest permanent 
officers in the Apostolic Church ; that the minis- 
ters of the gospel were all of the same rank, 
and that the Bishops spoken of in the New 
Testament were only the pastors of individual 
congregations, as in the Presbyterian Church at 
the present day ; but I must pass over these 
points, and hasten forward to show that this 
Presbyterian form of government has continued 
in the purer branches of the Church from the 
days of the Apostles to the present time. It 
was not a great while after the death of the 
Apostles, until many innovations began to be 
introduced into the Church, and amongst others 
the form of government known as Diocesan 
Episcopacy, in which one minister exercises au- 
thority over a large number of ministers and 
churches. At first the pastor, or Bishop, of a 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH 168 

city church, assumed authority over the coun- 
try churches around him. Then several cities 
came under the control of one Bishop, and at 
length these Bishops assumed a rank and au- 
thority greater than that of their brethren. 

It was along time, however, before these 
changes in the government of the Church be- 
came general. In the days of Augustine, who 
nourished diuing the latter part of the fourth 
century, and the first part of the fifth, there 
were, hi that part of North Africa, which was 
subject to the Romans, five hundred orth 
Bishops, and four hundred Donatist Bisho})s, 
making nine hundred Bishops in all, or more 
than there are diocesan Bishops in the whole 
Roman Catholic Church at the present day. 
Now, if you will examine any map of the Ro- 
man Empire, and sec what a narrow belt of 
territory in North Africa was Bubjecl to the 
Romans, you will see at one* nine 

hundred Bishops were not Bis] 
but of c lions — Presbyterian Bishops, 

like the pastors <>( our churches now. 

So also, in Ireland, in the days of St. Tat- 



164 TO THE BAPTIZED 

rick, (about the middle of the fifth century,) 
there were three hundred and sixty-five Bish- 
ops. Now, it is not probable that at that time 
Ireland was half as populous as it is now, and 
yet, though four-fifths of its population is now 
Eoman Catholic, it has only four Archbishops, 
and twenty-four Bishops. These three hundred 
and sixty-five bishops, therefore, in the days of 
St. Patrick, were Presbyterian Bishops. They 
were pastors of churches, and St. Patrick him- 
self was nothing more than a Presbyterian 
Evangelist, when he came into Ireland. 

When, after the lapse of centimes, the great 
mass of the visible church had become corrupt 
in doctrine and in practice, and had substituted 
the inventions of man for the sure testimony of 
the Word of God, there were still two distinct 
branches of the visible church, in which the 
truth was preserved in its purity, and in which 
the simple principles of Presbyterianism were 
never abandoned for the more imposing forms 
of Prelacy. 

The first of these two branches of the church 
which preserved the primitive form of Presby- 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 165 

terian Church government, were the Waldenses, 
in the valleys of the Piedmont, in France. It 
is a historical fact, that admits of no ques- 
tion, that from a very remote period, earlier 
a great deal than the date of the establishment 
of the Romish Church, there dwelt in these 
valleys of the Alps and Pyrennees, a body of 
Christian peoj)le, who never submitted to the 
authority of the Church of Rome ; who main- 
tained the purity of j:>rimitive doctrine, and the 
simplicity of primitive worship ; and who claimed 
that their doctrines and discipline had been 
transmitted in the direct line of their churches, 
from the days of the Apostles. They were 
called Vallense8 : or WaUen&es, inhabitants of 
the valleys; and down to the period of the Re 
formation, amidst all the fires of persecution 
kindled for them by the Romish Church, they 
remained unshaken in their faith, a band of 
godly men, protesting against the corruptions 
of the ( Ihurdfa of Rome, claiming to be the true 
successors, in doctrine and polity, of the A.pos 
lies and early martyrs. To their early origin, 
their general orthodoxy, their simplicity i>( 



166 TO THE BAPTIZED 

worship, and their blameless lives, even their 
persecutors bear repeated and unequivocal 
testimony. 

Now, all the records of these "Waldensian 
Christians show that their church government 
was distinctly Presbyterian. If any of my 
young readers are in doubt upon this point, 
they have only to refer to Wharey's Church 
History, with the appendix by Dr. Samuel 
Miller, or to Smyth's Lectares on Presbytery 
and Prelacy, to find the evidences upon which 
this statement is based. Here, then, through 
all the dark ages, was one Church, at least, that 
continued to be Presbyterian in its government 
and order; a Church that sealed its testimony 
through centimes with the blood of its martyrs, 
and whose light was still burning in the valleys 
of the Piedmont, when Farel and Luther and 
Calvin kindled on the momitain tops the watch- 
fires of the Reformation. 

There was still another witness for pure 
Presbyterianism through all these dark ages. 
I refer to the church of the ancient Culdees, in 
Scotland. To trace the origin of Christianity 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 187 

in Scotland, we must go back almost to the 
very days of the Apostles ; for Tertullian, who 
lived in the second century, tells us that those 
portions of Britain, which were inaccessible to 
the Romans, (by which he refers to the moun- 
tainous districts of Scotland,) had already sub- 
mitted to Christ. The Culdee Church, how- 
ever, owes its establishment to Columba, a na- 
tive of Ireland, who, about the middle of the 
sixth century, went as an evangelist into the 
midst of the Picts of Scotland; and having 
converted great multitudes of them to Chris- 
tianity, established upon the island of Iona a 
seminary of learning, for the purpose of train- 
ing pastors for the churches which he had 
founded, and evangelists to carry the gospel 
into the benighted regions which he had not 
yet visited. These ministers were called Cul- 
deeS) and the churches which they formed CuU 
hurches, the word Culdee being probably 
a corruption of the term Gvltor Dei, a wor 
shipper of the true God. This church of the 
Culdees, or worshippers of the true God, ex- 
isted f<>v many centuries without any oonnec 



168 TO THE BAPTIZED 

tion with the Church of Home. They refused 
to submit to the authority of the Romish 
clergy, and for many centuries, almost until the 
Tery dawn of the Reformation, maintained 
their ground against the encroachments of the 
Romish See. They opposed bitterly the doc- 
trines of the Church of Rome concerning au- 
ricular confession, the celibacy of the clergy, 
the worship of saints, the real presence, &c. 
Their form of government was essentially Pres- 
byterian. They had a Synod, or Assembly, to the 
members of which they gave the name of Se- 
nior es or Elders. These Elders, in their collec- 
tive capacity, appointed and ordained to the 
ministry. Their ministers were all of equal rank. 
Those who had permanent charge of churches 
were called Bishops, but their office and au- 
thority were simply those of Pastors of churches, 
and they held no higher rank and exercised no 
greater authority than those of their brethren 
who sat with them in council. 

It is scarcely necessary to say to the readers 
of this little volume that these principles of 
Presbyterianism, preserved by the Waldenses 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 16D 

and Culdees, until the time of the Reformation, 
and adopted by most of the Reformers, con- 
tinue until the present day to lie at the basis of 
the government of the great body of the Re- 
formed Churches. All those churches, on the 
continent of Europe, which, in distinction to 
to the Lutheran, are known as the Reformed 
Churches, are distinctly Presbyterian in gov- 
ernment. These large bodies of Christians, in- 
cluding the Reformed Churches of France, 
Switzerland, Germany and Holland, &c, are of 
the same order and discipline with our own 
Presbyterian Church ; and when to these Pres- 
byterian Churches on the continent we add 
the Presbyterian Churches of Scotland, Eng- 
land, Ireland and Wales, and the various 
branches of the Presbyterian and Reformed 
Churches in this country, we have a collective 
body of Presbyterians in the world, amount 
ing to 34,000,000 persons, embracing one half 
of the Evangelical Christians in tho world, 
and outnumbering at least tenfold the mem- 
bers of thoso branches of the Evangelical 



170 TO THE BAPTIZED 

Church which deny the validity of Presbyte- 
rian ordination. 

I have thus passed rapidly over the history 
of Presbyterianism, not in any controversial 
spirit, but to show to my young readers that 
there is every reason why they should cherish 
an intelligent love of the church of their 
fathers. It is pre-eminently the church of the 
Cevenant. From the days when its foundations 
were laid in the covenant with Abraham, on 
behalf of himself and his seed, until the pre- 
sent time, its history has been the history of a 
solemn league and covenant with God against 
heresy and innovation in doctrine and discip- 
line. Its covenants have been covenants sealed, 
like the first one, with blood. Those primitive 
martyrs, who were stoned, were sawn asunder, 
were slain with the sword, "of whom," as the 
apostle declares, "the world was not worthy," 
were witnesses for the pure principles of Pres- 
byterianism. Those heroic Vallenses, who 
were hunted, like harts, from crag to crag of 
their native mountains, and were dashed in 
pieces by scores, as their persecutors hurled 



CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH. 171 

tliem over the steep mountain precipice — those 
men who, for ten centuries, defied the malice 
and cunning of their persecutors, were Presby- 
terians. And those grand old Covenanters of 
Scotland, who loved not their lives to the 
death "for Christ, and for His crown," were 
Presbyterians. The old church has come 
down through the ages, with her garments, like 
those of her glorious Lord, dyed in blood. The 
most illustrious Martyrs, the most renowned 
Confessors, the most valiant Reformers, are 
hers. Let us love her for what she is, and ven- 
erate her for what she has been. Peace be 
within her walls, and prosperity within her 
palaces. For our brethren and companions' 
sakes let us now say, peace be within her. Be- 
cause of the House of the Lord our God, let 
us ever seek her good. 

My young friends, I take my leave of you at 
the close of this little volume, with feelings of 
deep and tender interest. It will not be agreal 
while until we, who are now the workers in the 
vineyard, will be sleeping under the sod. This 
dear old church, with its covenants and svm- 



172 TO THE BAPTIZED CHILDREN. 

bols, we must leave under God to you. Tour 
spiritual character must leave its impression 
upon all the ordering and discipline of its 
courts. Oh, that the Lord may bless you, and 
enrich you with His grace, and prepare you to 
stand up like men under the responsibilities 
that are to devolve upon you, so that when, in 
a green old age, you transmit to others the 
legacy of Presbyterianism which you have re- 
ceived from us, you may transmit it in its 
purity, having your names honourably asso- 
ciated with the increase of its prosperity, and 
the extension of its influence throughout the 
world I 

"And the very God of peace sanctify you 
wholly ; and I pray God your whole spirit, and 
soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the 
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." 



A Word to Christian Parents. 



•'Favoub is deceitful, and Beauty is vain; but 
a Woman that feabeth the Lobd, she shall bk 
pbaised." — Prov. xxxi. 30. 



A Word to Christian Parents. 




O thoughtful Christian parent,, 
who realizes the responsibility 
that rests upon him, or feels the 
proper interest in the well be- 
ing and happiness of his children, 
can read the preceding narratives, 
rith the well authenticated facts upon 
which they are based, without asking him- 
self the question: k 'How may I secure for my 
own household the same rich grace which was 
bestowed upon these dear children ; so that, if 
it should please God to call my little ones away 
from me by death, the same abundant consola- 
tion may be afforded me in the evidence of their 
peaceful and triumphant victory over death V* 
Closely in the wake of this question, of such 

vital interest, follow others, calculated to awaken 



176 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

feelings of sadness : Why is it that in so few 
households the same early manifestations of 
the Spirit's presence and power are witnessed ! 
Why are so few of the children of the Church 
savingly converted in early childhood"? Why 
do so few seem to be deeply impressed with the 
importance of religious things? Why is it 
that, while here and there one is found whose 
first opening years are consecrated to God. the 
vast majority of our youth grow up thought- 
less and unconcerned upon the subject of reli- 
gion, running riot in every form of worldliness 
and dissipation, and dying (if they die in 
youth.) without leaving behind them any as- 
sured evidence of meetness for the kingdom of 
Heaven? 

It seems to me that the heart of many an 
anxious parent, into whose hands this little 
volume will fall, must earnestly re-echo the 
question : Why is this ? Why is it that these 
dear children received such an early baptism of 
the Holy Spirit, and were scarcely conscious of 
the time when then- hearts were not under the 
power of His grace, while my children have 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 177 

nevei had any such experiences, and seem al- 
together indifferent to religious things ? 

In answering this question, it is necessary, 
first of all, to recognize the infinite sovereignty 
of the grace of God. The gifts of His Holy 
Spirit are bestowed " according to the counsel 
of His own w r ill." "Therefore hath He mercy 
on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will 
He hardeneth." In so far as these remarkable 
examples of early piety are to be traced to the 
extraordinary influences of His Holy Spirit) — 
and it certainly is to these influences alone that 
we can trace them as their source, — we can 
only say, as did our blessed Lord: "Even so. 
Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight." 
There are, perhaps, no parents who would be 
further from ascribing any merit or praise to 
themselves in connection with these wonderful 
experiences, than the parents of Hart, and 
Sallie, and Mary Kerr. On the other hand, 

deeply conscious of much unwortliincss, and 

many failures in duty, none would be more 
ready to lay down all the praise at the fool ol 
the throne of God's sovereign graoe, Baying, 



178 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

"not unto us, 0, Lord, not unto us, but unto 
Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for 
Thy truth's sake." "For of Him, and through 
Him, and to Him are all things ; to whom be 
glory for ever. Amen." 

When God is pleased thus, of His sovereign 
mercy and goodness, to pour out His grace 
upon a household, to put honour upon His 
covenant, and to make bright and illustrious 
examples of the power of His truth and Spirit 
over the heart of the smallest child, He has put 
an honour, not upon that household alone, but. 
upon His whole Church. The fragrant memo- 
ries which the Holy Spirit leaves behind Him, 
when He has done His work, and taken the 
sainted ones away, are the legacy of the whole 
Church of God; and every parent may rejoice 
in these rich tokens of the covenanted mercy 
and grace of God. 

But while the grace of God is in the highest 
sense sovereign ; while in the domain of grace, 
as in the domain of nature, God sits upon 
a throne of absolute and unquestioned author- 
ity, doing "according to His will, in the army 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 179 

of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
earth, and none can stay His hand, or say unto 
Him, "What doest ThouT and while He is free 
to dispense His Spirit, or to withhold Him at His 
will, yet it is none the less true, that in grace, 
as in nature, God works ordinarily by means. 
There are certain channels through which He is 
pleased to communicate His Holy Spirit. There 
are certain means, the use of which He is 
pleased to own and bless. While these means 
have no efficacy in themselves ; while they are 
entirely dependent for their virtue upon His 
sovereign grace communicated in them, and 
wliile He is free to work above them and with- 
out them ; yet, ordinarily, they are the instru- 
ments by and through which He exerts His 
power upon the soul. God's grace, therefore, 
16 sovereign; but it is by no means arbitrary. 
It has respect to a wisely ordered and perfectly 
adjusted plan, which includes all the means 
that are necessary to secure the salvation o( 
every human soul; and if families are found in 

which children are irreligious, thoughtless, or 
profane, it is not because of any unwillingness 



180 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

on the part of God to pour out His Spirit, but 
because of some defect in the use of the means 
of grace. 

It is to this point that I would call most 
earnestly the attention of Christian parents.. 
Inasmuch as God's covenant with His children 
embraces not only believers, but their children 
also; inasmuch as the means through which 
He communicates His grace, are means which 
may be made available for children, as well as 
for persons of mature years; and inasmuch 
as we know, from the experience of the past, 
that His Spirit does often times most wonder- 
fully operate upon the minds and hearts of 
those who are yet in early childhood, we have 
a right both to pray for and to expect the early 
conversion of our children; and if they are not 
converted in childhood, or opening youth, the 
fault lies at our own door. 

This may appear very startling to some. 
There is a great deal of skepticism in the 
Church in reference to this subject of the con- 
version of little children. President Edwards, 
speaks of it in his day :: 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 181 

" It has, heretofore, been looked upon as a 
very strange thing when any have seemed to be 
savingly wrought upon and remarkably changed 
in their childhood; but now, (referring to the 
revival in the church of Northampton, Mass., 
of which he was pastor,) I suppose near thirty 
were, to appearance, so wrought upon, between 
ten and fourteen years of age, and two between 
nine and ten, and one about four years of age." 
This last instance of conversion appeared so 
remarkable at the time, that President Ed- 
wards wrote a full history of it, which is found 
in a little work in many of our Sabbath schoo] 
libraries, with the title, I J htebe Bartlett. The 
same practical skepticism remains, to a consid 
erable extent, to the present day. Parents do 
not expect the early conversion of their chil- 
dren ; do not hope for it, or labour for it, 01 
pray for it. They would be astonished and 
incredulous if such a thing should take place! 
And yet is there any reason why our children 
should not be converted in childhood? Did 
not our blessed Lord, on more than one occa- 
sion, say: "Except ye be converted, and become 



182 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
the kingdom of heaven." ""Whosoever shall 
not receive the kingdom of God as a little 
child, he shall not enter therein," &c. Is there 
.anything in the plan of salvation which the 
child cannot apprehend as truly as the grown 
man? Is not faith in Jesus Christ the sim- 
plest, most child-like exercise of the human 
mind and heart ! If those children who die in 
infancy, are regenerated by the Holy Spirit be- 
fore they pass that mysterious bourne, beyond 
which there is no remission of sins, and no 
work of grace, may not the same Almighty 
Agent, who transformed their natures, that they 
might be new creatures in Christ Jesus, trans- 
form also the natures of those who are to re- 
main in this world of sin ? 

On the other hand, have we not the very 
liighest encouragement to hope for the conver- 
sion of children 1 Are not their hearts in early 
childhood more easily impressed with truth, 
and more free from the deadening, corrupting 
influence of the world? Are they not more 
docile, more confiding, more distrustful of self, 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 183 

and more willing to lean upon another for 
strength? Practically, do they not receive re- 
ligious impressions with more earnestness, ex- 
hibit deeper emotion under the influence oi 
religious truth, melt down with more tender- 
ness at the story of the Cross, and reach forth 
toward the thought of a future heaven with 
more intensity and vividness of conception than 
persons of mature age? And if the whole 
matter of salvation hinges upon the simple ex- 
ercise of a childlike faith in Jesus, why may not 
every child believe and be saved % And if con- 
version to God in childhood is possible, why 
may we not expect it, and ask it ? If these dear 
children are God's chosen ones ; if He has de- 
signed in the councils of eternity to call them 
into His kingdom, why should He not call them 
at the third hour, as well as at the sixth, or 
ninth, or eleventh % Why should any portion 
of their precious lives be spent in the service 
of Satan? Why should the dew and freshm 
of their youth be exhausted before they are 
transplanted into the garden of the Lord ! 
When wo consider how open to all tender 



184 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

impressions childhood is ; when we reflect upon 
the fact that it is the glory of the gospel, that, 
while its truths are hid from the wise and pru- 
dent, they are revealed unto babes ; when we 
think of the tender and intense love of Jesus to 
little children, as expressed by taking them in 
his arms and blessing them, saying, " Suffer 
the little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven:" 
and when we think of the infinite power and 
grace of the Holy Spirit ; is it not wonderful 
that more of the children of believing parents 
are not converted in childhood? Is it not 
strange that there are so many pious parents in 
the Church weeping over ungodly sons, and 
worldly minded, pleasure-seeking daughters, in 
whose hearts no saving impressions of divine 
truth seem to rest % 

Be assured, brethren, that there is a fault 
somewhere. God has said, " I will be a God 
to thee and to thy seed after thee ;" and God is 
not "a man that he should lie, or the son of 
man that He should repent." Let us proceed 
to inquire earnestly where this difficulty lies, 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENT.-. 185 

which withholds the converting grace of God 
from the hearts of our children. And when 
the writer of these lines thinks of the dear 
little ones whom God has given to him, he 
would join in the prayer, which he trusts will 
ascend from many a parent's heart : Lord give 
unto thy servant light that he may see clearly 
the path of duty ; forgive wherein he has erred ; 
and replenish him with the grace of Thy Holy 
Spirit, that, like Abraham of old, he may com- 
mand his household after him, in paths of holi- 
ness and truth. 

I. The first difficulty to which I would call 
attention, is found in the manifest failure of 
many Christian parents to apprehend the reality 
of the covenant which God has made with be- 
lieving parents and their children, and the con: 
sequent failure to take hold of this covenant by 
faith, and appropriate to themselves the pre- 
cious promises which it contains. Now, a cov- 
enant is a sworn agreemenl orcompad between 
two parties, in which certain conditions or stipu- 
lations arc affixed, upon compliance with which 
by one parly the oilier bring* himself under 



186 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

obligation to discharge certain offices, or to 
confer certain benefits in return. The stipula- 
tions agreed to by the first party constitute 
■what are called the conditions of the covenant. 
The corresponding benefits constitute the 
promises of the covenant. In the original 
covenant between God and Abraham, which lies 
at the basis of the visible church, that which 
Abraham covenanted to do, and which consti- 
tuted the condition of the covenant, was sum- 
marily expressed in the words: "Walk thou 
before me, and be thou perfect." It implied 
that Abraham, as the head of a believing house- 
hold, was to consecrate himself, with all that 
was his, to the service of God. He was not 
only publicly to confess, for himself, the true 
God; publicly to recognize and accept the re- 
demption which God had provided through the 
sacrifice of atoning blood, and through the re- 
generation of the Holy Ghost ; and publicly to 
consecrate himself to the true worship and ser- 
vice of God ; but he was publicly to confess 
this Jehovah as the God of his children also ; 
the God whom they were to be taught to fear, 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 187 

to love, and to obey. He was publicly to accept 
this salvation through the blood of a divine 
Victim, as the salvation of his children. To 
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the 
world, their earliest thoughts were to be direct- 
ed, that they might believe on Him that justi- 
fieth the ungodly, and have their faith counted 
to them for righteousness. He was, moreover, 
to consecrate his children to the service of God, 
as truly as he consecrated himself — to feel that, 
by the condition of this covenant, they were in 
a peculiar sense the Lord's, hi a sense as high 
and holy as that in which the believer, by the 
act of self-consecration, gives himself up to the 
service of God. The condition of the cove- 
nant, (as that covenant lay at the foundation of 
the visible church,) embraced, in a word, just 
what every believing parent is expected and re- 
quired to do — to consecrate his children to 
God — to throw them in faith upon the arms of 
God's covenant merry, and in daily faith and 
daily prayer, by the help of divin< 
rear them as the true servants of God, and the 

heirs of the promises in Christ Now, such 



1SS A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

being the condition of the covenant, let us in- 
quire what was its promise : '"I will be a God 
to thee, and to thy seed after thee.'' You per- 
ceive that there is no difference in the language 
between what is promised to Abraham person- 
ally and what is promised to him in reference to 
his children. There is no condition annexed to 
the one promise that is not also annexed to the 
other. If the words. --I will be a God to thee."'" 
imply that all spiritual blessings necessary to 
salvation should be bestowed upon Abraham, 
the following words imply the same fulness of 
spiritual blessing for his children. If the first 
words imply that Abraham's faith in God. and 
confession of Him before men shah be blessed 
of God to the securing of ah needed grace in 
this life, and glory in the life to come, the suc- 
ceeding words surely teach, that in some way 
connected with that act of faith and consecra- 
tion stand those covenanted blessings which 
are to descend upon his children through him. 
and thus constitute them the "hens of the 
promises." Under this Old Testament cove- 
nant, therefore, the believing parent covenanted 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 189 

not only for himself, but also for his children. 
He not only entered into solemn engagement 
to train them for the service and glory of God ; 
but his faith was taught to connect with this 
solemn engagement the precious truth of God's 
acceptance of his children into covenant rela- 
tionship with Himself, and to draw from it all 
the encouragement and comfort which such a 
thought was fitted to afford. This is the truth 
winch was implied, when, in respect to the faith 
of Abraham, the rite of circumcision was ad- 
ministered both to himself and to Isaac his 
son. It was a proclamation of the truth, that 
the same faith which brought him into connec- 
tion with the covenant of God, brought Isaac 
also within the pale of its blessings, and that 
the same salvation winch came to him came also 
to his house. This same truth of God's cove- 
nant was held forth through all the old econo- 
my. When the proselyte was admitted, upon 
public profession of his faith, to the number of 
the visible church of God, he received, not only 
in his own person, but in the person of bis 

children, the seal of the covenant in eiivuin- 



190 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

cision. The same precious truth appears, when 
the apostles, as they receive believing parents 
into the church, in every recorded instance, re- 
ceive their children with them, administering to 
all alike the same precious seal in baptism. 
There can be no truth more apparent to an un- 
prejudiced mind, than that this same covenant 
which God originally declared to be an . " ever- 
lasting covenant," still exists in all its binding 
force, and that the believing parent, who takes 
hold of this covenant, and pleads it with God, 
and trains up his children under a sense of its 
preciousness, and in a faithful discharge of its 
obligations, may as really hope for and expect 
the salvation of his children, as Abraham con- 
fidently relied upon the promise of God, which 
was made to him, and afterwards confirmed to 
Isaac his son. 

The ordinance of baptism is the public and 
official seal which God puts upon the covenant 
between His people and Himself. Every be- 
lieving parent, who receives upon the person of 
his child the sacramental water, in that very 
act solemnly ratifies this covenant between 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 191 

Abraham and God. He takes upon Himself 
the same obligations which Abraham took. He 
professes Himself an heir of the same blessings 
"with faithful Abraham ; and if this covenant- 
ing with God be not on His part a mere form, 
an idle and unmeaning ceremony, it is a solemn 
agreement with God for the life — the eternal 
life of his child. It is the assumption of vows, 
upon the performance of which hinges, in great 
measure, the everlasting salvation of the little 
one. It is as though, in that solemn hour, God 
were reaching down to the parent the title- 
bond of his child to an inheritance in heaven. 
If he has faith to take hold of the heavenly in- 
denture, and grace to comply with its condi- 
tions, the immortal soul of his child may, 
through eternity, live to bless God for the 
solemn transactions of that covenant hour. If 
he has not faith to look through the ordinance 
to those great spiritual trull is. which it is de 
signed to signify and seal, the solemnities of 
baptism, however august and imposing they 
maybe, are but an idle mockery. They are 
but Tain and unmeaning ceremonies, thai can 



192 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

impart no strength to the parent, and secure no 
blessings to the child. They are, indeed, as 
Jude so significantly expresses it, "'clouds with- 
out water, — trees whose fruit is withered away." 
And yet how many parents utterly fail to ap- 
preciate the true spiritual import of the sacra- 
ment in which they are engaged. With how 
many is the ordinance of baj^tisni shnply an 
impressive form, by which the child publicly 
receives the name which is called upon it. 
With how many more is it regarded simply as 
a 2^1easant occasion of public thanksgiving to 
God for the advent of a new member to the 
domestic circle. With how many more is it 
simply a ritual, through which the Church re- 
quires its members to go, and with which they 
comply, simply upon the authority of the 
Church, without ever once inquiring as to the 
deep significance of the Sacrament and its vital 
relation to the covenant of God. Reader, are 
you found in the number of any one of the 
classes enumerated above ! And can you won- 
der if God does not bless you in the conversion 
and salvation of vour child, when, so far from 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENT?. 193 

complying with the conditions of the covenant 
which He has ordained, you have never yet 
realized the existence of such a covenant, have 
never yet taken hold of the great and precious 
truth which it contains, and never yet claimed 
for your children the precious promise, "I 
will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after 
thee." 

Be assured, brethren, that just here is the 
source of much of the failure on the part of 
Christain parents, to secure for their children 
the inestimable blessing of early conversion to 
God. 

At the present day, there are many who neg- 
lect altogether the precious ordinance of bap- 
tism. There are many who attend upon it 
with no time conception of its real significance 
and solemn import ; who are far more concerned 
that the child may appear in elegant attire, and 
conduct itself with due decorum during the ad- 
ministration of the ordinance, than that it shall 
be brought into saving relation to the grace of 
God, and be made an heir of His heavenly 
kingdom. 



194 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

And yet, "hen Christian parents thus, by 
their unbelief, render of no effect the : omise 
of God; when they thus utterly fail to appro- 
priate to themselves the priceless blessings of 
the covenant, they wonde: that their children 
are irreligious and profane. TTe m£ 
sored that so long as the people of God fail to 
pnt due honour upon His covenant, and 
in Hi- grace. Hue Church of Christ will not see 
that ingathering of its children for which it is 
authorized to pray and to hope. :» are 

the children of the Covenanters, have need to 
take up Gods covenant out of the dust, to put 
honour upon it. to plead it with Him, to rely 
upon His faithfulness, and to hope in His 
: : ~. The parent who fa i ls thus to appro- 
priate to himself the provisions of the covenant, 
does a wrong to his child, that he can never 
undo, and discards a birthright for him. more 
precious than the title to princely estate 
imperial honours, or the highest distinctions of 

IL A second difficulty, in the way of Om 

early conversion of our children to Go" 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 195 

found in the failure, on the part of Christian 
parents, to begin the work of religious educa- 
tion at the proper season. There is a false 
idea in the minds of many parents as to the 
time when the religious instruction of their 
children should commence. They teach them 
in early childhood a few prayers, and verses of 
hymns, and the answers to a few questions in 
the Catechism. They read to them occasion- 
ally select portions of Scripture, and entertain 
them with stories, drawn from the word of 
God, and adapted to their infant minds; but 
they do not think of sitting down and explain- 
ing to their children the great method of sal- 
vation through Jesus Christ ; of directing their 
minds to their need of this salvation, and of 
urging them to believe, at once, with all their 
hearts, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and conse- 
crate themselves to His service. They do not 
speak to them of the regenerating power of 
the Holy Spirit, of His willingness to cleanse 
and renew the hearts of all who seek Him, and 
especially of those who are the objects of 
Christ's covenant love. All this fchey think 



196 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

wiU be well enough when the child reaches the 
age of discretion, but at present it lies beyond 
the range of its faculties, and is a matter with 
winch it has nothing to do. 

No mistake could be greater. The child is 
capable of thinking upon the subject of reli- 
gion, as soon as it is capable of thinking upon 
any subject. The consciousness of its own 
sinfulness is awakened along with the earliest- 
consciousnesses of its moral nature. There is, 
even in early childhood, a felt necessity which 
the blessed tidings of the gospel alone are able 
to meet. Precious time, therefore, is lost by 
the parent who permits these early impressions 
to pass away, these early experiences to lose 
their freshness and their poignancy, without 
pointing the soul to Him who is the Fountain 
of Life. 

But there is another consideration to which 
the attention of every thoughtful parent should 
be directed. The mind of the child is by no 
means, as so many parents seem to imagine, a 
tabula rasa—& blank page — upon which, at their 
leisure, they may write the precious truths of 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 19 7 

salvation. The heart is not an open and unoc- 
cupied field, in which they may sow, at such 
season as may suit them, the golden grain. It 
is a field already sown. The soil is strewn 
thick with the seeds of sin. A depraved nature 
is there, ready to yield its harvest of briers and 
thorns, to choke the good seed of the king 
dom. While the parent is quietly waiting for 
the time to sow, these seeds of depravity have 
already sprung up, and pre-occupied the ground. 
How often do we hear parents say of a child : 
" Oh, it is too young to be conversed with upon 
the subject of religion," when Satan has al- 
ready poisoned its mind and heart with his 
evil suggestions, and brought it into a state of 
conscious enmity against God. 

There can be no doubt that this is the reason 
of the failure in many households. Before the 
parent becomes deeply and earnestly enlisted 
in the cultivation of the spiritual nature of the 
child, its religious sensibilities have been 
deadened by contact with the world ; its affec- 
tions have been drawn away by the allurements 
of sense; its heart has been brought under the 



198 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

dominion of the world, the flesh and the devil, 
and the parent finds a strong tide of worldli- 
ness to be stemmed, and a positive and habitual 
aversion to religious things to be overcome. 

III. But a third difficulty, and one far more 
subversive of the great end of the family rela- 
tion, is found in the failure of Christian parents 
to cultivate perfect freedom of communication, 
and intimacy of relationship, with their chil- 
dren. Many parents never seem to win the 
confidence of then children at all. They never 
come into confidential relations with them. 
The most intimate thoughts of the child's 
mind, the most sacredly cherished emotions of 
its heart, are never communicated to the pa- 
rent. Between father, or mother, and child, 
there is an unnatural barrier of reserve — a wall 
of mutual separation. The few communica- 
tions as to its inner life, which the natural 
yearnings of the child lead it to make, are 
treated with indifference, or, perhaps, made the 
occasion of severe rebuke. 

At all events, they do not meet with the pro- 
per encourageinent, and its timid nature recoils 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 199 

upon itself. Henceforth, these deep experiences 
are concealed from parental view. As the na- 
ture unfolds, and the confiding spirit of early 
childhood begins to give place to the reserve 
and coyness of youth, there comes a studied 
habit of concealment. The parent sees only 
the outer life of the child. Its inner nature 
is a hidden mystery. And there are now long 
constituted and strengthened barriers to in- 
timate and confidential intercourse, which can 
never be overcome, however much the parent 
may strive to secure the end. 

And yet, how miserably has that parent 
failed to secure the true end of the family rela- 
tionship, whose child respects him, fears him, 
obeys him, and, it may be, loves him, with a 
kind of distant, reverential affection; but 
whose bosom has never become the repository 
of the joys and sorrows of his child ; whose 
heart never beats in conscious accord with the 
deep and yearning sympathies of its nature ; to 
whom the most tender and sacred experiences 
of its young life are all a sealed book! How 
can such a parent exert over his child the in- 



200 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

fluence which God designed him to exert? 
How can such a house, (for home it does not 
deserve to be called,) witness anything else 
than the growth into manhood and woman- 
hood, of children who are virtually orphans in 
the world, and who, like waifs of the sea, are 
liable to be "tossed to and fro, and carried 
about with every wind of doctrine" — the easy 
sport of circumstances, the strong anchorage 
in the family circle being totally wanting % 

How easy it is in early childhood to gain this 
intimacy and confidence to which I have re- 
ferred. The little child naturally seeks to con- 
fide everything to its parent. Let but the 
slightest encouragement be given ; let the little 
one only feel that there is a loving heart ready 
to sympathize with it; to rejoice with it; to 
solve patiently its difficulties ; to bear forgive- 
ingly with its wrongs, and to lead it kindly by 
the hand through all the perplexities of its path ; 
and how naturally, how unreservedly does it 
cast itself upon the bosom that seeks its con- 
fidence, and pour out there the very deepest 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 201 

and most sacred thoughts and feelings of its 
heart. 

And who shall say what advantage such a 
parent will have, in the training of his child! 
He is like the physician who has had the full 
diagnosis of the disease he is to treat. He Is 
like the lawyer to whom the client has fully 
unburdened his case. He knows how to direct 
the mind and mould the character of his child ; 
and at the same time, as the result of this lov- 
ing intimacy, he acquires an influence over it — 
the influence of mind over mind, and of heart 
over heart, — the blessed results of which it 
is impossible to estimate. 

But it is especially in reference to the sub- 
ject of religion — that most important of all 
subjects, — that this want of intimacy between 
parents and children is lamentably great. In 
many households, where there is loving inti- 
macy and mutual confidential commiinication 
upon every other subject, the subject of reli- 
gion is entirely ignored, or if introduced at all, 
is reserved for stated and formal occasions, in 
winch it assumes the form of catechetical in- 



202 A WORD 10 CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

struction, but is not admitted to the tender 
and confidential communings by the hearth- 
stone. 

Many parents talk intimately with their chil- 
dren upon every subject but this. On this they 
feel a reluctance to speak — a reluctance which 
grows more and more daily, until at length it 
would be easier for the parent to speak to any 
one else upon the subject of religion than to 
speak to his own child. 

The writer of these lines once had a mother 
to call at his study, in deep anxiety of mind, 
saying to him. that she believed her daughter, 
then about fifteen years of age, to be deeply 
concerned upon the subject of religion, and 
wished him to visit her, and converse with her 
in reference to it. He immediately asked if 
the mother had conversed with her daughter 
upon the subject, and was told that she had 
not. '-Then," said the Pastor, "yon had best 
speak with her first, and find out the true state 
of her mind, so that I may be able to approach 
her without embarrassing her too much." The 
next morning the mother called again to say 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENT?. 203 

that she had found it impossible to hold the 
conversation with her daughter. It had been 
so long since she had before attempted to in- 
troduce the subject, that though she had now 
made repeated efforts, it seemed as if her words 
clung to her lips, and she could not utter them. 
She again besought the pastor to visit her 
daughter, but he still declined, urging her to 
go home, and break down the unnatural wall of 
separation. 

In the evening the struggle was again re- 
newed. The mother, after deep and earnest 
prayer, sought the chamber of her daughter, 
where she found her alone 5 but the same diffi- 
culty appeared in the way. She essayed again 
and again to speak, but in vain ; and at length, 
overcome by the violence of emotion, she 
pressed her daughter's hand in hers, and burst 
into a flood of tears. 

How easy it is to trace the source of this 
embarrassment back through long years, to tho 
early cldldhood of the daughter, and to neg- 
lected opportunities afforded, at that 
period, for the cultivation of confidential intt- 



204: A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

macy upon the subject of religion. There was 
a time when, without the least hesitation, or 
embarrassment, this mother could have spoken 
to her child upon this, or any other subject. 
But she had permitted the wall of separation 
to grow up, and now she was realizing the bitr- 
ter fruit of her neglect. 

It must be so in every family, where this 
wall of partition is suffered to spring up; 
where the subject of religion is excluded 
from the conversations by the fireside, and at 
the table ; where the parent, for fear of awak- 
ening unpleasant thoughts in the mind of his 
child, fails to deal faithfully with it in convinc- 
ing it of its lost and helpless estate, of its im- 
minent peril, and of its need of Christ, the 
only Deliverer from guilt and sin. When you 
consider to what extent the minds and hearts 
of our children are thus left to their own spon- 
taneous workings, surrounded as they are by 
temptations, and depraved as they are by the 
taint of sin, is it any wonder that the children 
of pious parents are not converted to God in 
childhood? 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 205 

Reader, are you conscious of the existence 
of this wall of separation in your own house ? 
Does your conscience condemn you for not 
having any intimate acquaintance with the spi- 
ritual condition of your children? Do you 
feel that their religious experiences, if they have 
them, are all to you a sealed book? Do you 
feel a strange shrinking from conversation with 
them upon this all important subject 1 Go home, 
like this mother of whom I have spoken, kneel be- 
fore God and ask of Him the grace that you need. 
Let not another evening draw to a close until 
the strange spell is removed, though you can 
only, in the intensity of your struggle, press 
silently the hand of your child, and burst into 
tears. Some of you have those about your 
knees who are still in tender childhood, whose 
hearts yearn for intimate communion with you. 
Take them home to your bosoms, in loving and 
confidential intercourse. Speak to them freely. 
Encourage them to keep back nothing from 
you. Let them see that you are worthy of 
their confidence ; that you appreciate it ; that 
you will cherish it as a sacred thing, and keep 



206 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

it inviolate. Let your bosom be the willing' 
receptacle of all that is joyous, or sad, in their 
daily experience. Above all, let religion be the 
subject of frequent and intimate conversation. 
In your daily walks ; by the evening fireside ; 
and in the bed chamber, as the little form is 
composing itself for sleep, let words of ten- 
derest religious counsel be imparted ; inquiries- 
after religious truth be awakened and answer- 
ed ; let your child feel and know all the deep, 
yearning anxieties of your soul for its early 
conversion to God. Do this, and the Holy 
Spirit will bless, as He has so often blessed, 
words of tender, confidential admonition to the 
awakening of a new life in the soul of your 
child; and while the endearments of the do- 
mestic circle will be enhanced a thousand fold 
by the loving confidence which such intercourse 
will beget, you may be the honoured instru- 
ment/ in the hands of God, of conveying that 
living Word, by which the soul of your child 
shall be for ever saved. 

IV. There are other difficulties to which I 
would like to call the attention of parents ; but 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 207 

within the limits of this article it will only be 
proper to notice one other, and that is a failure 
on the part of the parent to make everything 
in connection with his child subservient, as far 
as possible, to the advancement of its religious 
interests. The true parent must feel, if he 
gives any serious consideration to the matter- 
that the one great end to be attained for his 
child, is the salvation of its priceless and un- 
dying soul. He must, therefore, feel that the 
one object which he is to seek, is to fit his 
child, not to shine in the halls of society, or to 
excel in the marts of trade, but to attain to 
eminence in the kingdom of God. Now, let 
this thought be carried out to its practical re- 
sults, and how different would be the course of 
many Christian parents from that which they 
now pursue. Let us consider this course, in 
reference to two things. 

First. Let us consider the choice of com- 
panionships for the child. How many parents 
are there in the land, who are governed in the 
selection of the society in which their children 
are to move, by the tendency of thai society 



208 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

to promote their spiritual welfare ? How many 
are there, who, when their children are invited 
to a place of amusement, or to a social gath- 
ering, stop to ask themselves the question, 
"What influence will this probably have upon 
their religious character ? Will their associates 
be religious, or irreligious? Will the amuse- 
ments be such as are baleful to piety and to in- 
terest in religious things? How will attend- 
ance upon such places affect their interest in 
the Sabbath school, and in the prayer meet- 
ing, and in the ordinances of God's house, 
upon which they are dependent as the means 
of salvation?" 

The parent will readily enough ask whether 
or not the society will be reputable ; whether 
the acquaintances to be formed are of the same 
social position; whether the character of the 
children will suffer in the eyes of the world by 
going ; and, if these questions are not satisfac- 
torily answered, nothing will induce him to give 
his consent. But the questions, Will God ap- 
prove of their going to such a place? Will 
they come away with as much reverence for 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 209 

Him, with as earnest thoughts of their respon- 
sibility to Hini, and with as faithful endeavour's 
to love and serve Him, as they had when they 
went ! These do not once enter their minds, or 
if they do, they are thrust aside by considera- 
tions of the elegance, the fashionableness, and 
the selectness of the party to which their chil- 
dren are invited. In how many cases is every- 
thing made to bend, not to the religious welfare 
of the child, but to its position in a fashion- 
able, worldly-mmded, and sinful society. You 
meet, for instance, an officer or member of one 
of our Churches, and say to him, "I am sur- 
prised to hear that you are sending your chil- 
dren to a dancing school. And what is his re- 
ply? "I know the rules of the Church forbid 
dancing, and I am as much opposed to it as 
any one can be, for I believe it is alike injurious 
to the physical, moral and spiritual interests of 
its votaries. I wish most heartily that it could 
be abolished altogether as a popular amuse- 
ment ; but then it is the amusement of young 
people now-a-days, and you must either exclude 
your children from society altogether, or teaob 



210 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

them to dance." You perceive, at once, that 
the prominent idea in the parent's mind is the 
fitting of his child for society. Bather than 
forego the advantages of a worldly, fashionable 
society, which asserts its supremacy over rea- 
son, health, religion, and everything else, a 
Christian father will encourage his child in that 
which he believes to be "alike injurious to the 
physical, moral and religious interests of its 
votaries." Can there be any wonder that the 
child, thus thrown into the midst of irreligious 
companionships and associations ; taught from 
its earliest childhood that its first duty is to 
prepare itself to move well in society; that if 
society is worldly it must be worldly ; if society 
is extravagant, it must be extravagant ; if society 
dissipates, it must dissipate ; that it must seek 
first the good opinion of society, and then, in 
subordination to that, the kingdom of God : 
can there be any wonder, I say, that the child 
is not converted to God? On the other hand, 
would it not be a very great wonder if, under 
such circumstances, the child should have any 
serious impressions at all ? 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 211 

It is very easy to anticipate the reply that 
many will make to this. They will meet us 
with the old trite saying, "Young people will 
be young people ; they must have some kind of 
amusement, and you cannot apply the same 
rules to them that you do to grown people." 
This is all true enough ; but in this very fact 
that " young people will be young people," is 
found the very strongest argument against the 
kind of amusements for which this class of per- 
sons would plead. Young people not only 
must have amusement — they will have it. 
Their nature is joyous; its activities are spon- 
taneous. They will have sport of some kind. 
If you deny them amusement in one form, they 
will seek it in another. If you refuse them 
that which is unwholesome, they will turn to 
that which is wholesome. If, for instance, you 
refuse them the privilege of turning night 
into day, and of spending the hours that ought 
to be devoted to sleep in the feverish excite- 
ment of the dance, and the heated air of a ball 
room, then these sickly votaries of pleasure, 
who also turn day into night, by lying in bed, 



212 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

with aching brows and enervated limbs, until 
high noon, would, after the refreshing sleep of 
the night, be up with the early dawn, to enjoy 
the bright sunshine, and the pure air, to find 
amusement in the carol of birds, and the fra- 
grance of flowers, and the thousand sources of 
innocent enjoyment, with which God has sur- 
rounded us in life. It is but a pitiable plea, 
therefore, to say that your children must have 
amusement. It is a libel upon their innocent, 
joyous natures, to say that the theatre and the 
ball-room are necessary to their recreation. 
You may so habituate them to these places of 
unnatural and inordinate excitement, that they 
will lose all relish for purer and less stimulating 
pleasures. But keep them away from these, 
and before you lies a broad field of innocent 
sports and diversions, from which you may se- 
lect at will, with the assurance that, together 
with amusement and recreation, your child may 
secure health, energy, vigour and purity. 

But the parent is, perhaps, ready to say 
further, " Others send their children to these 
places of amusement, and mine must go, or be 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 213 

debarred from society." And who are these 
others'? Christian parents like yourself; ex- 
cusing themselves on the ground that you, 
and others like you, allow your children these 
indulgences. Thus, while you are striving to 
shift your responsibility on them, they are 
seeking to rest theirs on you. You are mu- 
tually upholding one another in a course which 
is inconsistent with your covenant vows, in di- 
rect violation of the rules of the Church, and 
in the highest degree destructive of the spirit- 
ual interests of your children. 

The other instance, in which the inconsis- 
tency of Christian parents appears, is in the 
selection of teachers and institutions of learn- 
ing for their children. There is a false theory 
of education in vogue at the present day. It 
is comparatively new in the world, but its in- 
fluence is as pernicious as its doctrines are 
novel. According to this theory, it does not 
come within the province of the teacher of secu- 
lar learning, either to inculcate religious truth, 
or to exert a religious influence over his pupils. 
Secular education, and religious education, are 



214 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

to be regarded as altogether dissociated from 
one another. The former is the work of the 
schoolroom ; the latter is the work of the church. 
It is therefore no more the duty of the educa- 
tor to inculcate religions truth, than of the pas- 
tor to teach mathematics. It is a question of 
no more consideration with the advocates of 
this theory, whether a teacher is religious or 
not. than it is whether a minister is a good 
mathematician or not. The question is not 
what religion a teacher is of. or indeed whether 
he is of any religion. Does he know the par- 
ticular branches which he proposes to teach '] 
Is he capable of imparting the requisite in- 
struction in them"? Will he devote himself 
faithfully to the work of inculcating them? 
Answer these questions satisfactorily, and no 
further inquires are necessary. It matters not 
whether he is a Romanist; a Jew, a Mohamme- 
dan, or an infidel. The question in reference to 
his religion is nothing. The language of this 
theory is: "I do not send my children to 
school to learn morality or religion. Morality 
I propose to teach them at home. Religion 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 215 

I expect them to learn in the Sabbath school, 
and at church. I send them to school to learn 
the languages, mathematics, natural sciences, 
&c. Commend me to the man who can best 
teach them these. I will see that their religious 
interests are provided for elsewhere." 

I affirm, distinctly, that this is a new 
theory of education. From the earliest period 
of civilization to the present time, secular and 
religious education have gone hand in hand. 
The teachers to whom have been committed the 
instruction of youth in secular learning, have 
been charged also with the duty of cultivating 
their moral and religious natures. Even in the 
days of Socrates, it was considered an offence 
worthy of death, that an instructor of youth 
should publicly disavow Ins belief in the false 
gods whom the nation worshipped In all the 
ages, and in every land, religious instruction 
and secular education have gone hand in hand. 
It has been reserved for this day, when all the 
foundations of social order are being over- 
thrown, to discover that there is no important 



■;:■ '::-:?.:siiax faf.zxis. 

coni: - of the intel- 

lect and the suite art. 

Tlii- theny is *s testable as it is new, far 
i; ■;">". ;-. :".*-. .".:: """::.'. >:..".: . ' :i:.e \ :; _ f : "_■;■:' 
In its aim fcc secure an education that is free 
from religions bia an education that 

is, in :Lt hi . i:v.s. In its 

nthn :: free -thinkers, it is in 
.eating a nation of iofi lels. 
Now. I do not presume that any 

_: who reads these pages will _ : to the 
: in the adoption of this theory, that I 

the selection of an institution of learning for 
their children, are go 1 I [clusivelybyi 

:s intehecrr" ;res. They do 

not deem it necessary :: inc bat is the 

religions eh-:-.: :s -.-:• hers : ' 

nature and extent of the religions influence 
thev exer heir rnr-ils : ~ha: the spirit of 

consecration t n which they pursue their 

high and important vocation: or what their 
probable influence upon the future religious 
life of their children. Practical^, thev act 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 217 

upon the theory alluded to above, although 
they may utterly disclaim it in words. When 
they send their children to Roman Catholic 
schools and convents, to institutions presided 
over by ungodly and irreligious men, and to 
institutions, whatever may be the character of 
their founders and officers, in which religion is 
practically ignored, or false doctrine and heresy 
openly and publicly taught, what can be said 
but that they have fallen victims, unconsciously 
it may be, but none the less really and fatally, 
to this false notion of education. Now, in di- 
rect opposition to this theory, I maintain that 
the education of a Christian child, in all its 
parts, must bear distinct reference to its rela- 
tions to God and eternity. It must be educa- 
ted as an immortal being. It must be impressed 
at every step with the thought that its chief 
end is " to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for 
ever," and no education is of any real value 
that does not teach it to know, reverence, love, 
and obey Him. 

A teacher, therefore, who is irreligious, or 
who docs not feel the responsibility of mould- 



218 A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENTS. 

ing the mind and heart of his pupil in the 
spirit of the Christian religion, whatever other 
qualities he may possess, is not fitted to be the 
educator of a Christian child. The institution 
of learning, whether it be the normal school of 
the city, the select institute for young ladies, or 
the University of the State, that inscribes over 
its doors the words, " No religious influence 
whatever exerted over the pupils," deserves to 
have written also the words, not unlike in sound, 
though altogether unlike in sense, to those of 
the ancient sage, " Let no one who has an im- 
mortal soul enter here." 

When you consider the character of many of 
the teachers who are employed in educating the 
youth of our Church, and then reflect upon the 
immense influence which the teacher exerts over 
the pupil, can you wonder that the youth them- 
selves are irreligious. "We have seen, in the 
biography of Mary Kerr, the great pains at 
which her parents were in securing for their 
children the services of a devotedly pious 
teacher, and in having all their education con- 
ducted under strictly religious influence. Is 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENT?. 219 

not one secret of their early piety to be found 
in this ? And is not the secret of the irreligion 
of many a child of pious, praying parents, to 
be found in the baleful influence of an institu- 
tion of learning where religion is altogether 
ignored, or where its teachings by the home fire- 
side are either openly ridiculed, or covertly un- 
dermined 1 

I have thus passed over, as rapidly and as 
briefly as I could, some of the difficulties that 
lie in the way of the early conversion of our 
children to God. Dear Christian brethren, can 
we not, with the help of the Lord, roll these 
difficulties out of the way? Can we not, and 
will we not, suffer the little children to come 
unto Jesus, and forbid them not? Shall our 
unfaithfulness stand in the way of the blessings 
of that covenant-keeping God, who visits the 
iniquities of the fathers upon the children ? 
Will not every parent who reads this little 
book, and thinks of the priceless value of the 
immortal souls of his children, before he lays 
the volume down, weigh carefully the conside- 
rations that have been presented, and enter 



220 



A WORD TO CHRISTIAN PARENT?. 



anew into covenant with God, resolving that, by 
His grace, every barrier shall be removed, and 
every encouragement and assistance rendered 
to the little ones, to deny themselves, and take 
up their cross and follow Jesus. 




jsmoLi 






Appendix. 




Appendi: 




I^^HEKE is no evidence of the 
unity of the Church of Christ 
^f^P^^^^oi more striking than that re- 
ferred to by the apostle, when 
he says: "Whether one member 
suffer, all the members suffer with it, 
or one member be honoured, all the 
members rejoice with it." The sorrow of 
one of God's people is a family sorrow. Chris- 
tian hearts are knit together by the bonds of a 
sympathy akin to that of Him w T ho " is afflicted 
in all their afflictions ;" who is " touched with 
the feeling of their infirmities, whose sacred 
office it is to " bear our griefs and carry our 
sorrows." 

These testimonials of love and sympathy, 

which are appended to this volume, arc there* 
223 



224: APPENDIX. 

fore, precious, not only as mementoes of past 
affection and sympathy, but as evidences to 
those who are now afflicted, and into whose 
hands they may fall, that the prayers and tears 
of loving hearts attend them in their periods of 
bereavement and sorrow. 

It is not necessary to say that these letters 
have been written with no view to publication. 
They are the outgushings of warm hearts, 
pouring their words of condolence into the pri- 
vate ear of friendship. And yet it is hoped 
that no breach of propriety is made in placing 
words which have been so comforting to 
those for whom they were immediately de- 
signed, where they may be the means of carry- 
ing the same precious consolation to other 
stricken hearts. 

Soon after the death of Hart, which occurred 
on the 28th of November, 1866, a large num- 
ber of letters came from Christian brethren, in 
various parts of the Southern Church, all 
freighted with words of tender sympathy and 
Christian consolation. From these, only a few 
can be selected. The first of these is from the 



APPENDIX. 225 

pen of the Rev. J. H. Gray, D. D., of La 
Grange, Tenn., who, under date of November 
29th, 1866, only the day after the death of the 
noble boy, writes as follows : 

My Dearly Beloved Brother : Hearing of 
your sudden and deep affliction, and wishing to 
say some word of comfort, and not knowing 
what to say, I did as the disciples did on the 
sudden and violent death of John the Baptist, 
"went and told Jesus." I then turned to the 
Bible, the great repository of light and com- 
fort. I knew that you had often opened this 
fountain to others, in the time of their calamity, 
and given them sweet consolation. And now 
I only wish to refresh your pvtfe mind, by way 
of remembrance, for I know that sudden and 
powerful strokes seem to paralyze the faculties 
of the soul for a season. You will, therefore, 
pardon me while I direct your thoughts to a 
few great truths contained in the Bible. 

First. The Bible teaches that afflictions come 
from God. " See now that I, even T, am He, and 
there is no god with Me: I kill and I make 



226 APPENDIX. 

alive ; I wound and I heal : neither is there 
any that can deliver out of My hand. (Deut. 
32 : 39.) " The Lord killeth and maketh ahve : 
He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth 
up." (1 Sam. 2 : 6.) "Affliction cometh not 
forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring- 
out of the ground." (Job 5:6.) "I was dumb, 
I opened not my mouth, because thou didst 
it." (Ps. 39:9.) 

Second. The Bible teaches that afflictions 
are beneficial, and are proofs to God's people 
of His love, and not of His anger. "Behold, 
happy is the man whom God correcteth : there- 
fore desj3ise not thou the chastening of the Al- 
mighty ; for He maketh sore and bindeth up : He 
woundeth and His hands make whole." (Job 
5: 17 and 18.) "Blessed is the man whom 
Thou chastenest, O, Lord." (Ps. 94: 12.) 
" My son, despise not the chastening of the 
Lord ; neither be weary of His correction, for 
whom the Lord loveth He correcteth, even as a. 
father the son in whom he delighteth." (Pro v. 
3: 11 and 12.) "For they verily chastened 
us after their own pleasiu-e, but He, for our 



APPENDIX. 227 

profit, that we miglit be partakers of His holi- 
ness. Now no chastening for the present 
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous ; neverthe- 
less afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of 
righteousness unto them that are exercised 
thereby." (Heb. 12: 10 and 11.) 

Third. Take some cases recorded in the Bible 
of God's dealings with His own children. One 
of the excellencies of the Bible is, that it is 
biographical. It is not a collection of abstract 
principles, or theological maxims, but a living 
illustration of these truths, exhibited in the 
every day experience of humanity. Revelation 
is drawn out in living characters. 

1st. The case of Job. We have the testi- 
mony of God Himself, that he was "a perfect 
man; one that feared God, and eschewed evil." 
Yet wave after wave of sorrow rolls over him. 
One messenger of evil after another is sent 
with sad tidings. (See Job, chapter 1.) How 
does he act, and what docs he say? "He fell 
down on the ground, and Worshipped, and said : 
Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and 
naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave and 



228 APPENDIX. 

the Lord hath taken away : blessed be the name 
of the Lord." This case proves the truth, that 
■whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. 

2d. The case of Aaron. He is called of God 
to be the High Priest of His chosen people. 
This high honour and exaltation cannot, or does 
not, prevent the chastening of the Lord. His 
two sons, Nadab and Abihu, who seemed to be 
associated with him in the services of the sanc- 
tuary, transgressed the ordinances of God, and 
a fire from the Lord devoured them, and they 
died. "When his brother, Moses, communicated 
the sad event to him, the simple and instructive 
record is, "And Aaron held his peace." (Lev. 
10: 3.) He was dumb with silence, because 
God did it. This is another proof of the say- 
ing* : WTiom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. 

3d. The case of ELL another Priest of the 
Lord. His high office and holy character can- 
not shield him from the rod of affliction. 
When Samuel, who had received the knowledge 
of the impending calamity directly from the 
Lord, communicated the vision to EH, and hid 
nothing from him, EH said: "It is the Lord: 



APPENDIX. 229 

let Him do what seemeth Him good." (1 
Sam. 3 : 18.) 

So it has been in all past time, and so it will 
be in all coming time, as it is at the present. 
"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and 
scourgeth every son whom He reeeiveth." 
Therefore, my brother, " despise not the chas- 
tening of the Lord, neither be weary of His 
correction." 

Now, in reference to the cases cited, there is 
very little to comfort the hearts of the jiarents 
as to the future happiness of their sons, ex- 
cept, perhaps, Job ; yet they meekly bowed to 
His will. But when you look to the future, 
and follow the spirit of your departed son, you 
can say, with David, "I shall go to him; but he 
shall not return to me." He was too ripe for 
earth ; too pure and lovery to dwell in these low 
grounds of sin and death; and hence his early 
translation to the heavenly world, where "God 
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and 
there shall be no mor§ death, neither sorrow 
nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
pain." 



230 APPENDIX. 

I need not repeat the dying expressions of 
your noble boy. They are precious and hal- 
lowed sayings. Thus, 

' ' In calm unruffled peace, 
Like the mild glory of the setting sun," 

he passed away from earth, to dwell for ever in 
the bosom of his God. 

In conclusion, let me say, the moral influence 
of such a life, brief as it was, cannot be lost. 
^Not only his life, but his death, was a testi- 
mony for Jesus. He was more than a con- 
queror. His was a translation, rather than a 
death. There was grief, but no gloom in that 
-chamber. The glory of heaven seemed to il- 
lumine it. His sun went down without a cloud. 
The weary pilgrim rested on the celestial 
Canaan, and was welcomed by angels and by 
Christ. 

My dear brother, while this letter is ad- 
dressed to you, it is intended also to cheer the 
heart of that honoured, but deeply stricken 
one, the mother of your boy. Just let me say 
to her : 



APPENDIX. 231 

u 0, when a mother meets on high 

The boy she lost in infancy, 
Hath she not then, for pains and fears, 

The day of woe and watchful night, 
For all her sorrow, all her tears, 

An over payment of delight ?" 

Your sympathizing friend and brother, 

J. H. Gray. 

A week later than this, came the following 
exceedingly tender and characteristic letter, 
from Bev. Joseph E. Wilson, D. D., who had 
just returned to his home, in Augusta, Ga., 
from the meeting of the Assembly, and who, 
like Dr. Gray, had been present at the death- 
bed of Hart. 

Augusta, December G, 18GC. 
My Beloved Brother : I did not reach home 
until Saturday night. I would have written 
you immediately upon my arrival. Many causes 
have prevented, principally the fact that no 
words of mine, or of man's, could reach the 
measure of your great sorrow. WeD did I 
know that only God could effectually speak to 



232 APPENDIX. 

your distressed heart, so as to calm and cheer 
it. I did not dare to intrude into that sanc- 
tuary of grief, where He and yourself were en- 
gaged in holding communion, until, under the 
influence of His healing presence, you might 
again be ready to open an ear to the sympa- 
thies of your earthly friends, with something 
like composure. Oh, how my heart has bled 
for you, and for your dear wife, and for your 
remaining children. I have tried to pray for 
you, as I could wish you to pray for me under 
similar circumstances. I trust that 'these 
prayers, ascending to heaven from my poor 
heart, have mingled with those of your brethren 
everywhere, as also with your own ; and that 
they have found acceptance with Him who 
sitteth on the throne. I trust that you have, ere 
this, experienced their answer, so as to be en- 
abled to say, in the true spirit of gospel ac- 
quiescence, " The Lord gave and the Lord hath 
taken away," and "blessed be the name of the 
Lord." The blow which you received was ter- 
rible ; the waters of affliction, into which you 
have been plunged, have proved deep and roar- 



APPENDIX. 233 

ing ; the whole shock to your affectionate pater- 
nal heart, has been overwhelming ; but I believe 
you have already had reason to bless the hand 
that delivered the sudden and awful stroke, and 
to kiss it in the quietness of a profound and 
sweet submission. I need not remind you of 
what your own soul has been preaching to you, 
that after all it was love which let loose the 
descending rod upon your fondest earthly 
hopes, and I trust that this same love has 
again revealed itself to you in light and com- 
fort. 

Never shall I forget the last moments of 
your now sainted boy. What blessed assurances 
they gave of his complete preparedness for a 
better world ! How graciously, and how sur- 
prisingly did Christ sustain him in the final 
struggle with death ! His hopes were as bright 
and as intelligent as faith wrought by the Holy 
Spirit could make them. I felt, and still feel, 
that this departure ought not to be shied 
dying, but living. His young life whs not 
quenched, but quickened into sudden and glo- 
rious maturity. He seemed to s (( his Saviour, 



234 APPENDIX. 

and the sight shased away elD fears from his 

soul; in their stead appealed the bright forms 
:: sonfidenee and holy lesire. He left behind 
him the best testimony ;: his entire and con- 
scious acceptance with his Redeemer and Por- 
tion. He reached, at one bound, the blissful 
shores :: that heavenly world, where you will 
one dav behold him. dressed in righteousness and 
wn ed with ever! - ting honour. You cannot 
mourn/- him. He is certainly 
Think of his noble intellectual pow- 
| wading there at the right hand of 
Think : the rapturous happiness of that heart, 
whose affections were sc -trong and so pure. 
Think of that deep cup of knowledge, of whose 
Bontents he has begun to drink; of that 
well of love, of whose waters he has 
begun to taste ; of that serene country, amid 
whose exalte:! citizenship he has taken his 
allotted place. Happy, happy boy ! >";; TtL 
his father, r his mother, can wish him 
They san Mily t"_ink of him as a mem- 
ber o! that redeemed family, of which 
is the Father, and Jesus Christ the I 



APPENDIX. 235 

Brother. How willingly we ought to part with 
all our kindred, on the terms which have sig- 
nalized the glorification of this young immortal. 

Nature must, indeed, have her tribute of 
tears at the loss you have experienced ; but let 
grace come in to claim her higher and better 
tribute of praise to God at the gain he has 
made. But I will not multiply words. You 
know all that can be said. You feel all that 
ought to be felt. 

Your affectionate and faithful friend and 
brother, 

Joseph B. Wilson. 

The following extract from a letter from Bev. 
Wm. L. Breckenridge, D. D., of Kentucky, re- 
ceived about the same time, or a little later, 
will be read with interest by those who knew 
and loved in better days this noble-hearted 
Christian man. 

" It was not until this evening that I heard 
of the sore distress which it has pleased God to 
send upon your house. I have just read in tho 
Southern Tresbyterian of the 20th inst, a letter 



236 APPENDIX. 

from your nephew to Kev. Dr. Adger, relating 
the death of your dear little boy. My heart 
impels me to tell you, though it be in no more 
than a few hurried lines, how sorrrowfully and 
how tenderly I condole with you in this afflic- 
tion. 

" I feel sure that you will not deem it an in- 
trusion. Although we have been so long sepa- 
rated, and so far apart in distance, our ancient, 
unbroken friendship is very fresh with me, and I 
allow myself to hope, not less so with you. 
Our meeting at St. Louis revived many recol 
lections, which I have kept alive with great 
pleasure since that time. I followed you with 
much interest through your late work at Mem- 
phis. * * * It never once occurred to me, 
that the next news of you would be of this 
nature. It has come over me with a terrible 
shock. But I know that the Lord will be your 
stay and comfort, the more because He has 
given you such ground for consolation in the 
assurance of the dying grace He was pleased 
to bestow upon the child in marvellous abun- 
dance. I think I know how you feel : with a 



APPENDIX. 237 

heart broken, and yet most graciously bound 
up. You will not be swallowed up with over- 
much sorrow." 

A few months after the receipt of these let- 
ters, came one from Eev. Dr. Howe, of the 
Theological Seminary, Columbia, S. C, bear- 
ing expressions of warm sympathy in the same 
bereavement to which the previous ones beai 
reference. Under date of April 13th, 1867, he 
says : 

" I have just received your letter of the 8th 
inst. The sadness which oppresses your heart 
deeply affects my own, and revives the purpose 
I had of writing you on my return from the 
Assembly, in the language of sympathy. A re- 
currence of my own ill health then prevented 
me, and I knew that the whole church felt for 
you in your sorrow, and remembered you in 
their prayers. And what was I but one. and 
that an unworthy one, among the hosts of our 
Israel ! But I remember, when my own dear 
and noble boy lay down in his cold, damp tent, 
on one of the cold mountains of Virginia, and 
died after a long and painful illness, and I 



238 APPENDIX. 

reached him only to see him breathe his last 
breath, and hear him express his dying faith 
in Christ, how my own heart struggled in its 
deep grief, and tried to lean on all God's pro- 
mises, and to school itself into submission and 
rest. And I can feel for you, my brother. Nor 
do I wonder bhat your sorrow should be renew- 
ing itself day after day, and sadness be dwell- 
ing .around your hearth. And yet we know that 
the Judge of all the earth will do, and has done, 
right. And He will not have us ' to be igno- 
rant concerning them which are asleep, that we 
sorrow not even as others which have no hope ; 
for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God 
bring with Him. For the Lord himself shall 
descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trunip of 
God ; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 
Then we which are alive and remain, shall be 
caught up together with them in the clouds, 
and so shall we ever be with the Lord ; where- 
fore comfort one another with these words.' 
"And now, my dear brother, God's people 



APPENDIX. 239 

have been comforting one another with these 
words these eighteen hundred and thirteen 
years, ever since Paul wrote them at Corinth, 
in the first of his epistles to the church. And 
now I would strive to comfort you and my own 
heart with these same words. And though you 
have them in your own Bible, that lies before 
you, yet I send them to you. Heaven is a peo- 
pled place, and no solitude. It is gathering up 
our dearest friends, the loved ones of earth, 
God's own elect, lifted from the dunghill of 
earth to sit among princes, and be kings and 
priests unto Himself. Nor will it be long before 
we join them in the presence of that Redeemer 
whom we love. Wherefore, let us comfort one 
another with these words, and resolve to wait, 
in faith and patience, our appointed time, till 
our change come. 

" May God be gracious to you, and 
more and more the sorrows of your heart, and 
give you strength of body to labour many years 
in His honom*able service. 

"Your friend and brother in Christ our Lord, 

Geo. Howe." 



240 APPENDIX. 

Along with these letters, which came from 
eminent ministers in various parts of the South- 
ern church, bringing assurance of the sympa- 
thy of the whole church in the affliction of its 
venerated servant, there is one from a warm- 
hearted Christian woman in Virginia, whose 
words of tender sympathy have fallen upon 
many an ear like the ripple of the cool waters 
of Siloam upon the ear of the thirsty traveller. 
She says : 

" Though personally a stranger, will you al- 
low me to offer you my most heartfelt sympa- 
thy and earnest prayers, that the loving Saviour 
may be with you and yours, to comfort and 
bless % In such seasons of sore trial, no ether 
comforter can be of any avail. Our household 
passed through a similar trial in 1863, when a 
darling boy of four years old was taken away, 
and the father was across the ocean, among 
strangers, and with an enemy's fleet to encoun- 
ter before he could reach his home. Then, if 
never before, we felt the preciousness of 'one 
common mercy seat,' and one Saviour present 



APPENDIX. 241 

with us all to fill our aching hearts with His 
loving presence. 

" The enclosed scrap of poetry, written by 
Kev. Dr. Deems, for a friend of mine in North 
Carolina, always seemed to me pretty and com- 
forting. The Lord comfort you out of Zion." 

The "scrap of poetry," to which the writer 
refers, is the following, which, for its sentiment, 
as well as for its poetic merit, deserves to be 
placed among the treasures of the children of 
affliction. 

OUTSIDE AND IN. 

I stood beside a swinging gate, 

The two great worlds dividing ; 
Outside poor sinners weep and wait, 

Inside are saints residing. 

How grim and dark and dread is seen, 

The outside of that portal, 
Whose inside's glorious golden sheen 

Streams on the eyes immortal. 

Outside, the winds of Winter shriek, 

With howl and lamentation ; 
Inside, melodious accents speak 

Of Spring's regeneration. 



242 APPENDIX. 

Outside, I saw the snow-clad grave 
Of a babe who had just been dying; 

Inside, his feet, winged and fleet, 
O'er fields of light were flying. 

Outside, I heard a father's plaint, 
And a mother's cry outbreaking ; 

Inside, there shouted many a saint, 
At the babe's new saintly waking. 

Outside, bereaved children wept 

O'er little steps retreating; 
Inside, the cherub's harpstrings swept, 

The new born cherub greeting. 

Outside were war. and want, and woe, 
Graves, and homes melancholy ; 

Inside, the landscape stood a-glow 
In soft light, still and holy. 

Out-side, upon a cross of blood, 
Hung God's great victim dying; 

Inside, on throne he radiant shone, 
And angels heard him crying : 

"Outside, men! are death and sin; 

Inside, the Life Immortal ; 
Fear not to let your loved ones in 

To Life, through Death's dark portal/' 



APPENDIX. 243 

We might multiply these letters of condo- 
lence to any extent, but it will probably be best 
to add but one other. Many of our readers 
will take a melancholy pleasure in perusing a 
letter from the pen of that noble man, "Wil- 
liam Garvin, of Louisville, Ky., who stood 
shoulder to shoulder with our brethren of 
the Louisville Presbytery, in their celebrated 
defence of the Declaration and Testimony; 
whose warm heart and liberal purse contributed 
so largely to the Kentucky Relief Fund, for the 
impoverished ministers of the South, at the 
close of the war, and who, after a life spent in 
great honour and usefulness, was suddenly re- 
moved from earth by the disastrous burning of 
the steamer United States, on the night of 
December 5th, 1868. 

This letter was addressed to Dr. Kerr, only 
a few days after the death of Hart ; and as the 
expression, though in plain and homely phrase, 
of the Christian emotion of one who was liiin- 
self ripe for heaven, and was soon to be trans- 
lated thither, as it were upon a chariot of fire, 
it will possess a double interest for our readers: 



244 APPENDIX. 

Louisville, December 8. 1866. 

My Dear Friend: Your brother's letter to 
me was received some days since, giving me the 
melancholy and distressing news of the death 
of your dear and only son. I cannot express 
to you my feelings on its receipt. To think 
that, on the last Sabbath of the General Assem- 
bly. I rode with him on the cars, and that in less 
than three days he was riding on the triumphant 
car of glory, to be amidst a General Assembly 
that never breaks irp. Although I feel for you 
and your family the deepest sympathy for your 
natural feelings, yet, how ought you to rejoice 
that you have a son in glory. 

Happy father, mother, and sisters ! to know 
you have a son and brother awaiting you in 
heaven. You have great reason to believe that, 
before the last sigh was past on earth, he took 
up the song of the redeemed, and is now say- 
ing : Mourn not for me. If you loved me, you 
will rejoice, because I have gone to my Father. 

Our Heavenly Father knows what is best. If 
He took him early in life it was to save him from 
some rough blast. If he entered the port of 



APPENDIX. 245 

glory soon, it was because He foresaw some 
threatening tempest screened from our limited 
vision. He lias entered in to prove the rest 
that remaineth. The pangs of separation none 
but parents can know. Those, and those only, 
who, like myself, have suffered these pangs of be- 
reavement can enter into your sorrow. You, my 
dear friend, have cause to rejoice, for your son 
is not dead, but liveth. At this very moment, 
when your tears are falling, his spirit is soaring 
in the realms of everlasting day, safely at home. 
Dry, therefore, your tears ; an early death-bed 
has been an early crown, and the ties which are 
sundered here bring you nearer to the throne 
of God. 

Happy family ! You have a son, a brother 
in heaven. You are now the relatives of a 
ransomed saint. Let tins thought dry up your 
tears. The period of your mourning is counted 
by days ; your eternal rejoicing by cycles and 
eras. I think I hear you saying, "Why art 
thou cast down, () my soul, and why art thou 
disquieted within me r kk O God, thou art my 
hope." 



246 APPENDIX. 

The voice calls to you, as to Abraham of 
old, to prepare for bitter trial. Be it yours to 
respond with Abraham. "Here am I." Remem- 
ber He chastens because He loves. You can 
join in the prayer of one of old: "When 
my heart is overwhelmed within me. lead me to 
the Rock that is higher than I." He is the 
JRocJc. and yet a man. mighty to conrpassionate, 
Immanuel, God with us. 

"What was the cause of your dear son's death ? 
My wife and myself have supposed that it- 
might have been a congestive chill, as he had 
had chills, we understood, before we left Mem- 
phis. Excuse this hasty scrawl. I write from 
my heart. I have been suffering with neuralgia 
in my head for some days ; am some better to- 
day. AH well. My wife and family all join me 
in much love and assurances that you have our 
deepest sympathies and prayers. 

May the blessing of our covenant God abide 
upon you and yours, is the prayer of 

Your assured friend, 

William Gaevik. 



APPENDIX. 217 

The answer to this letter, written by the be- 
reaved father, expressive at once of the depth 
of human sorrow, and the power of divine 
grace to sustain and console, forms a fitting 
conclusion to this memorial volume. 

Shelby County, Tenn., January 25, 1867 
Mr. William Garvin, 

My Dear Friend and Brother: I write a 
line to convey to you the thanks of my whole 
family for your exceedingly kind, Christian let- 
ter, in which you express so much of true sor- 
row for us, under our crushing bereavement, and 
in which you so tenderly and affectingly point 
us to the only true sources of comfort and sup- 
port. 

Next to the divine, there is scarcely anything 
that could afford a stricken heart the solace and 
comfort imparted by the sympathies of Christian 
friends. In this respect God has, in the most 
remarkable manner, mingled goodness and love 
with His dreadful smitings. From many of 
our most esteemed brethren and friends in 
South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 



248 APPENDIX. 

Virginia, Kentucky, New York, and many other 
sections, we have been in the constant receipt 
of letters, all breathing the tenderest sympathy 
and concern for us. Indeed, the tender, loving 
spirit of our blessed Christianity, has been most 
strikingly and touchingly illustrated, in that 
so many, whose faces we have never seen, moved 
by its divine impulses, have written us the most 
touching and affecting expressions of sorrow in 
this our day of darkness. The papers, too, of 
our dear brethren, Drs. Robinson, Brown, Rice, 
"Woodrow, and Adger, have come to us freighted 
with tears and love. 

And yet, my dear friend, there lies the shadow 
of death upon our door-sill, as sickening and 
appalling as ever. Tears are mingled with our 
drink. We sit down at the table to eat our 
bread with thankfulness, but the " vacant chair 
makes us all silent, whilst the smitten mother 
is driven away to pour out her grief all alone. 
In a thousand ways, and as often every day, we 
are reminded that one of the brightest lights 
of our earthly happiness has gone down for 
ever. Oh, this heart void! this heart aching! 



APPENDIX. 249 

this consuming memory of hopes blasted; 
hopes watered with so many tears, cherished 
with so many prayers ; hopes we had allowed to 
stretch over the track of our whole earthly fu- 
ture ; all, all buried so suddenly, so unexpectedly, 
in the dust of death. We often turn our eyes 
on the dear ones left us in quest of comfort ; 
but as they crouch down by our sides, and at 
our feet, appalled by the suddenness and terri- 
bleness of the shock they too have felt, and we 
gaze on their faces, blanched as if they, too, 
were smitten, an involuntary shudder passes 
horribly over our crushed hearts, and leaves us 
only with the sad feeling that our house is a 
damp, dreary cave, whose ceiling is curtained 
with the wing of death. 

There is his little axe in the corner, and there 
are his little books upon the shelf, and we 
would put them away ; but our devotion to him 
will not allow us to conceal what we know lie 
loved. We remember, and we miss him, in the 
thousand little kind offices, in which he was 
ever so ready to serve and to please us. Even 
the winds to which we were wont to listen, to 



250 APPENDIX. 

bring to our ears the sounds of his animating 
and inspiring voice, now seem to howl and 
mourn around our house appalling and sicken- 
ing dirges to expiree! pleasures. 

Our walks, that were made cheerful and pleas- 
ant by his accompanying form, are now aban- 
doned, and our stricken hearts start out in their 
solitary pilgrimages to his bed of dust, where 
tears run down our faces, as barren of peace 
and joy as if there were none to pity and to 
love. "When we would bestir ourselves to the 
duties imposed by the stern vocations of life, 
and of Providence, alas ! in a moment, we find 
our thoughts and feelings enchained in the busy 
work of digging down into his grave, to bring 
him back again to sweet companionship with 
our broken hearts. His angel is ever with us. 
Even the little moments of sleep and of rest 
we have been able to snatch on their hasty way, 
have been disturbed and broken by fitful and 
disappointing dreams of his coming. And then, 
when we remember that, like Paul's Mends, we 
sorrowed most of all, that "we shall see his 
face no more," our poor hearts go plunging in 



APPENDIX. 231 

the dark waves and billows of a distress that 
seems to us to have no bottom and no shore. 
Dark world ! dark world ! Dark, indeed ! The 
hand of our God is heavy upon us. All His 
waves and billows have gone over our heads, 
and we often grow dizzy and faint, as we think 
of the past, as we gaze upon the dark present, 
and contemplate the still more uninviting future. 
Such, my dear friend, is the natural, tho 
mere human nature aspect of our case, in tins 
time of our dreadful bereavement, disappoint- 
ment and sorrow. You will not, I am sure, re- 
buke us for this language of love and of sorrow, 
especially when I assure you that it is our con- 
stant effort to restrict our poor hearts within 
the limits of an enlightened Christian modera- 
tion. Dost thou hear the moanings of that 
lonely dove ? She sighs for her absent mate. 
Dost thou see the fearful rage of that wild, fero- 
cious beast. 'Tis for her imperilled young. And 
shall nature in her rudest, most untutored, hum- 
blest forms, speak the language of love and 
grief, mid shall not the human kind, with a 
higher and more cultivated nature, feel deeply 



252 APPENDIX. 

and keenly when his bones are bemg broken, and 
his flesh consumed? Our children are bone of 
our bone, and flesh of our flesh. And the tender, 
loving impulses of our natures, when stricken 
and bruised, must find expression for their sor- 
row and woes, or nature herself must sink down 
and die under the weight of an otherwise intol- 
erable load. 

And then see that solemn procession : it con- 
sists of the Christian friends of the martyred 
Stephen, carrying him to his burial, with great 
lamentation over him. Besides. " Jesus wept" 

But then there is another side to this dark 
picture — the divine side, where Jehovah stands 
alone, doing all His pleasure. And he who sees 
this side aright, will come in due time and sit 
down in the dust where God would put him, 
and say. even under the heaviest blows of His 
hand. i; I was dumb: I opened not my mouth, 
because Thou didst it." 

" Thou, vrho driest the mourner's tear, 
How dark this world would be, 
If pierced by sins and sorrows here, 
"We could not fly to thee \ n 



APPENDIX. 253 

Yes > here, in these words, " Thou didst it, " is 
to be found the true and only solution of all our 
perplexities, under the stunning blows that fall 
upon us often like thunderbolts from above. 
They strike a light for our blind eyes, that 
brings cheer and good hope to our stricken, 
aching bosoms, where, else, would brood a 
-cheerless and perpetual night. 

0, who could bear life's stormy doom, 

Did not Thy wing of love, 
Come, brightly wafting through the gloom, 

Our peace branch from above ? 

Then sorrow touched by Thee grows bright, 

With more than rapture's ray, 
As darkness shows us worlds of light 

We never saw by day. 

The precious truth, from which we have 
sought most earnestly to derive the solace and 
comfort we have so much needed, and which, 
under other and similar afflictions, lias been as 
the "poultice of figs" to our bruised souls, is 
this, that the afflictions of God's peoplt aredi- 
vinely $< nt, and that, in all the asp* cts oftht wt, 
they an the wisi it and l>< Bt aUotrm nts that could 



254: APPENDIX. 

be made to them, seeing they are the conclu- 
sions, the judgments of the infinitely toise and 
loving nature of Jehovah; and that the great 
practical result should be to suppress and silence 
every complaining , fault-finding sentiment and 
feeling, and to bring our hearts quietly and 
acquiescingly to sit down at the Divine feet, 
and say, " We are dumb, because thou didst it." 

The words, " Thou didst it," clearly express 
all that is meant by Providence — God superin- 
tending, directing," controlling, overruling, dis- 
posing all tilings according to the counsel of 
His will. The arguments that prove God, 
prove Providence, and so vice versa. So that, 
to deny Providence is to deny God. "Whoever, 
therefore, does not recognize God in all that 
transpires under His divine administration, ful- 
filling His actual or permissive purposes, be- 
trays his infidelity, and is on a shoreless sea of 
adventure, speculation, and darkness, knowing 
neither whither he shall drift, nor where he shall 
sink. 

If God be governor, He must have subjects 
over whom He exercises His rule ; and being 



APPENDIX. 255 

supreme, if He does not rule, it is because He 
either cannot or will not. The first of these 
suppositions is absurd and impious : the latter 
is also absurd, because it would argue indiffer- 
ence to the very things that do most strikingly 
illustrate His glory. To suppose that He gov- 
erns a part of His universe, and is indifferent to 
the other part, is to draw a line where He has 
not authorized human wisdom to interpose its 
discriminations. Besides, the very idea of His 
supremacy implies universal dominion. Then, 
if He governs the whole, He must govern every 
part, for the whole is made up of its several 
parts, and must, therefore, include every part. 

How this reasoning accords with sacred Scrip- 
ture will appear, amongst a thousand things 
which there appear, by what is said of the fall- 
ing sparrow, of the numbered hairs of our heads, 
of the provision made for the wild ravens, of the 
clothing of the grass, which to-day is, and to- 
morrow is cast into the own: of bhe ice, and 
snow, and hoar frost, which He sendeth upon 
the earth, and of the way in which 11^ melteth 
them again; how He rides \\\^m the storm, 



256 APPENDIX. 

shaking the cedars of Lebanon, and causing 
the hinds to calve ; how He doeth all His plea- 
sure in the armies of heaven, and amongst the 
inhabitants of the earth ; how, in the execution 
of His pleasure, He putteth down one and 
setteth up another. 

I know, indeed, that this subject rises im- 
measurably above human capacity to compre- 
hend, and to grasp in its mighty proportions. 
The universe itself, though only the footstool of 
ike great Maker, can be seen by us only in a 
comparatively few compressed phases of it. 
Man's foundation is in the dust. His life is in 
his nostrils. The horizon of his vision is but a 
few miles distant, whilst all above, in infinite and 
incomprehensible sjDace, revolve unnumbered 
worlds, compared with which ours is but the 
small dust of the balance. And yet this uni- 
verse is but the evidence and the illustration of 
the still more inconrprehensible and mysterious 
Maker. If, therefore, whilst we gaze upon the 
works of His fingers, we are "lost in wonder, 
love, and praise," how much more becoming is 
it, when we gaze on His infinite majesty, as He 



APPENDIX. 257 

reveals it in the severe mysteries of His provi- 
dential dispensations, to be still, to be dumb, 
and, without a murmuring word, accept with 
holy reverence and with unshaken confidence in 
His rectitude, the divine, the humbling, and yet 
the consoling lesson, " Thou didst it." 

God does not address Himself to the com- 
prehension of His creatures. He is constantly 
announcing to them. /acts, truths, propositions, 
both in the kingdom of nature and of grace, and 
in the book of His providence ; but then these 
facts and propositions, though clearly enough 
stated, and, it may be, understood as facts and 
propositions, do but reveal their incomprehen- 
sible Author. So that, w r hilst by them we may 
have discovered His being and purpose, we 
have not, and cannot, cast our thoughts half- 
way to the unsealed heights, and to the ineffa 
ble perfection of His transcendent and myste- 
rious nature ; or to the unsearchable purport of 
the great ideas contained in the propositions 
themselves. God, in all the deliverance 
Himself to His creatures, must, of I 
be incomprehensible. 'Tie the infinite speaking 



258 APPENDIX. 

to the finite. Tis the greater approaching to 
fill and bless the lesser. But, then, the less can 
never contain the greater. Always, and every- 
where, therefore, and in every variety of speech 
and calling, He addresses Himself to the faith 
of mortals. 

Even in the words of His grace, there are 
discovered heights, and depths, and breadths of 
love, which no human line can ever measure. 
So too, when by His providence He touches our 
persons, or our interests, we stand and look, 
and listen, but we see not His hand. No lan- 
guage or speech is heard. We only know 'tis 
God. And then we look up and listen again, 
and a voice comes from the excellent glory ; but 
its words are addressed, not to our comprehen- 
sion, but to our faith. " Trust ye in the Lord 
Jehovah ; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlast- 
ing strength." But how that strength is com- 
municated to us, how He puts His hand under 
our sinking hopes, and lifts up our desponding 
hearts to a heavenly calm, to a divine repose, 
we cannot comprehend. All we can know, 
all we can say, is, "We were brought 



APPENDIX. 259 

low, and He helped us." So that our office and 
duty, under the dispensations of Providence, is 
not so much to comprehend and to fathom His 
deep designs, as simply, earnestly, believingly 
to say, "Thou art all my trust." Indeed, the 
very darkness in which God often conceals 
Himself, and by which He renders unintelligi- 
ble and mysterious so many of His dispensa- 
tions, is designed to call into exercise this divine 
and heavenly grace. 

No other principle than this, embraced with 
a steady faith, and attended with a correspond- 
ing behaviour, can give repose and tranquility 
to a troubled soul; can animate our crushed 
hopes or extinguish our corroding fears ; can 
give us any true satisfaction in the enjoyments 
of life, or minister consolation under its ad- 
versities and bereavements. If we are per- 
suaded that God governs the universe ; that He 
has the superintendence and direction of all 
events, and that we are the objects of His 
paternal care, whatever may be our distn 
danger, we can never want consolation; we 
may always have a fund of hope, alw:ns a 



260 



APPENDIX. 



prospect of relief. But take away this hope 
and this prospect ; take away the belief of God r 
and of a superintending special providence, and 
you at once remove from under us every stone 
of our foundations, and " if the foundations be 
destroyed what can the righteous dof 

But whoever, by such a faith, engages Jeho- 
vah on his side, has all the assurance that His 
sure word of testimony can impart, that "all 
things work together for good to them that 
love God" — not shall work, or may work, but 
work. All second causes now conspire to work 
together with God, the great First Cause ; and 
all these for good. All things work. The 
proposition is universal. Evil things as well as 
good things; adversity as well as prosperity; 
sickness as well as health ; death as well as life.. 
Yes, "all things," under Divine, beneficent guid- 
ance, "work together for good to them that 
love God, to them that are the called according 
to His purpose." 

It must be so, for He Himself says, "I have 
loved thee with an everlasting love ;" not the 
ebullition of to-day ; not a passion awakened by 



APPENDIX. 261 

the present circumstances of a present sorrow, 
but a devotion coeval with His immortal nature 
and being ; a love which brings into requisition all 
the plannings and provisions of a precise, never- 
erring, consummate wisdom, to meet the weak- 
nesses and wants, the sorrows and conflicts, the 
complex and turbulent existence of every child of 
His grace ; a love that wakes up the strength 
of His Almighty arm, to lift off from their hearts 
the burdens and distresses that have accumu- 
lated beyond their strength to bear them ; a love 
that pours out upon them its infinite treasures, 
day by day, according to their every exigency ; 
a love which has already bestowed its richest, 
greatest gift, one which must abide as the cer- 
tain pledge and proof that He will, with Him, 
also freely give us all things. 

"And can my soul, with hopes like these, 

Be sullen and repine? 
No, gracious God, take what Thou wilt, 

I'll cheerfully resign." 

Guided and fortified by thoso. and similar 
considerations, I trust that we can. to some 
extent, see and feel that if God, the Governor 



262 APPENDIX. 

and Judge of the universe, is engaged in shap- 
ing and maturing, at every period of their his- 
tory here, the characters of His people, and di- 
recting them to a specific and chosen destiny, 
it will certainly be in a way, and to a destiny 
that will not only be perfectly honourable to 
Himself, but infinitely satisfactory to us. Nay, 
more, I hope we are not without some expe- 
rience of the high mystery, that the doctrine 
of providence, as it stands related to the grace 
of the gospel, is the true elixir of the broken 
heart. And although we are very sad, very 
lonely, separated during our future pilgrimage 
from our dear only son, and though tears still 
run down our faces, almost as fast as we wipe 
ihem away, we can look up even through our 
tears, and say, " Wear thy crown, sweet boy ! 
We would not bring thee back. Wave thy palm 
of victory! Eaise high thy song of praise ! We 
are coming, and hope soon to see and join thee." 
With assurances of our high esteem and love 
for yourself and family, I am, my dear friend 
and brother, Yours very truly, 

Andrew Habt Kerr. 

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